TVD - Season 6 - Rewritten - Part 1
by Hooligunz Mind
Summary: The following chapters are a reimagining of Season 6 of The Vampire Diaries. All mythologies and canon elements established throughout Season 6 and beyond on television do not apply to this version of events. These events take place after the Season 5 finale. With the fall of the Other Side, another world with restless spirits seek to invade the quiet town of Mystic Falls.
1. TVD S6 - Part 1 Ch1

_TVD SEASON 6 – THE SOVEREIGNTY SAGA_

 _The following chapters are a reimagining of Season 6 of The Vampire Diaries. All mythologies and canon elements established throughout Season 6 and beyond on television do not apply to this version of events. These events take place after the Season 5 finale._

" **The kind of magic my mother practiced…it's unnatural. Witches don't even call it magic. We call it Expression. Channelling the power of human sacrifices calls on darkness that can't exist on this plane without swallowing it whole!" – Nandi LaMarche**

PART 1

 _The Endless Reflections_

Bonnie awoke, lying on a cold floor groggy, disoriented…and completely naked.

She looked at her surroundings. The ceiling, the floor, all four walls—they were all mirrors. She stood up and could only see herself reflected in all directions. She looked as she did when was on the Other Side, with her dark brown hair with subtle highlights tussled slightly, clinging lazily along the side of her face in the bob cut she had gotten before she started going to Whitmore College. Her smooth, unblemished nutmeg skin shone brightly in the room. She tried walking to one of the walls, her greenish, brown eyes quickly shifted as they tried to focus on her reflection, which was being reflected, which also was being reflected and so on and so on, for infinity. The multiple reflections made her stagger while walking. She paused and keeled, waving her arms and engaging her leg muscles to regain her balance. She looked around again and could see herself very clearly, as the room seemed to be very well lit, but when she looked up, she couldn't see a light source. No lamp, bulb, or anything.

"HELLO?!" she hollered.

There was no sound. Not even an echo. It was like the sound of her voice was immediately absorbed by the mirror walls.

"HELLO?! ANYBODY?"

She began to remember fragments of her last moments, when she and Damon were on the Other Side as it was collapsing and she was holding his hand as a bright light enveloped the two of them.

The thought of Damon prompted her to try and cover up her nakedness with her arms and hands.

"DAMON?!" she nervously queried, since he was the last person on Earth that she'd want to see her naked. "DAMON, IF THIS IS YOUR IDEA OF A JOKE I AM SOOOO GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Again, there was no sound. No echo. Nothing. The silence was off-putting, given how her image was being infinitely reflected, yet her voice wasn't.

She tried to walk to one of the mirror walls while trying to keep herself covered up, hoping to see if perhaps maybe the walls were some kind of two-way mirror or if there was an exit. Maybe this was some pervert's idea of a prank or something.

 _I swear Damon, I will stake you in the balls a thousand times over if I find out you're behind one of these walls looking at me!_

A small part of her hoped he was there, since he would symbolize something familiar. She reached one of the walls and nearly touched it when she heard a sound coming from behind her.

"Bonnie!"

Startled, she turned around to see a figure standing in the middle of the room.

"Oh my God…Grams?!"

She looked the same as she did the last time Bonnie saw her on the Other Side, wearing a black knit cardigan and black slacks, her hair the dark brown, almost black and wavy style that Bonnie remembered. Her skin, however, was a shade lighter than the tortilla-beige colour that defined Gram's skin. Regardless, Bonnie immediately ran to embrace her, relieved at seeing a familiar and familial face in this bizarre room.

"What are we doing here, Grams? What is this place?"

Grams didn't move. Her arms remained at her side. She stared at Bonnie, emotionless, with her large, brown eyes burrowing a hole right through her.

"Grams? What's wrong? What's going on? Are we still on the Other Side? Are we dead?"

"I told you that I…I looked out for…you. That you'd…find…p-p-PEACCCE…Bonnie."

Bonnie looked at her quizzically. Grams appeared to have trouble saying the words, especially the word 'peace.' Bonnie felt like she said it derisively.

"But…you said that you found peace as well. What's going on? Where are we? Why am I naked? Did the Other Side collapse?"

"Oh, it collapsed. It's gone—finally gone! The barriers are down. We are free. And so many of you are with us."

Bonnie scrutinized Grams and then looked around the room again. She finally noticed that Grams wasn't being reflected in the mirrors. Wild eyed and resolute, Bonnie took a step back and faced the imposter.

"Who are you?! You're not my Grams! Who the hell are you?!"

Suddenly, a chorus of laughter descended upon the two of them. It was maniacal, twisted and menacing. It sounded like both men and women, adults and children, but then Bonnie found she couldn't distinguish the ages or gender of those laughing. The laughter came from everywhere—from above, below, and all four walls. It seemed to come from behind the walls, and yet it seemed to be coming from within the room itself. Bonnie couldn't pinpoint the source.

"Who is that? Who are they?" Bonnie asked, cowering as though the laughs were physically landing upon her.

"They are of the Sovereignty," said Grams. "They are of us. Like you are…and your Grams…and so many more. She promised that you'd find peace." The imposter took a step forward. "What an ignorant…arrogant…BITCH!"

The façade was over. Bonnie watched in horror as her Grams' face became cracked and a pasty, ash grey, her mouth twisting into a distorted, malevolent smile. But it was the eyes that scared Bonnie the most. The eyes reminded her of a Gecko lizard—a crooked, black slit in the center with a feint halo of blood red around it, with the rest of the eye a shimmering gold. The outside of Grams eyes became black and veiny, like those of a vampire, but even darker and more distinct than any vampire that Bonnie had ever seen. The black served to make her lizard eyes even more pronounced.

Before Bonnie could scream, a hand came over her mouth. Multiple hands and arms suddenly enveloped her body. She felt herself pinned against someone or something. She looked in the mirror walls, but could still only see herself.

"Shhhhh—calm yourself, child. We helped you once, remember? Tit for tat!" Grams voiced had changed. Like the laughter, it was genderless. But it was the palpable absence of love or concern in the voice that terrified Bonnie the most—a complete lack of humanity. Grams wiped away a tear running down Bonnie's face.

"Oh, no tears, please! It's a waste of perfectly good suffering. We don't need your consent. You gave yourself to us when you willfully—carelessly—immersed yourself in us. You used us. Used our power. And all for l-l-love!"

Bonnie tried to struggle, but the grip of the multiple arms over her was too much. She couldn't move.

"And now we will touch you. We will join and enjoy you. You will join and enjoy us. You will marry us," Grams leered. "Don't resist. It's so much easier when you don't resist. You've suffered so much, my dear Bonnie. The Sovereignty will make everything better. We enhance. We augment. We make YOU better!"

The room went dark.

Bonnie's muffled screams became lost in the chorus of malicious gaiety that rained upon her.

 _Patio Standoff_

"Please, we're just looking for information," Caroline pleaded as her and Elena held their hands up. The Asian couple stood on their porch with the wife holding a shotgun while the husband was holding their growling Rottweiler back on a leash.

Elena and Caroline stood roughly five yards from the bottom of a porch at the feet of a quaint farmhouse just outside of Charlottesville. Amongst a vast area of neatly trimmed grass and shrubs on a cloudless afternoon, the soft wind blew Caroline's long, tussled blonde locks over her face, forcing her to drop her hand down to fix her hair, her ocean blue eyes desperately blinking as they tried to keep the threatening couple before her in her sights.

"Information or blood?" asked the husband. "We know what you are. It may be daylight out now, but Old Cong here knows the scent of vampires. Daylight jewelry, right? Now what kind of information do you want?"

Elena took a step forward, and the wife redirected her shotgun at her.

"Careful, young miss. In case you haven't figured it out, this shotgun will pump you and your friend here with wooden splinters. Can kill you in seconds. And in case you think you're fast enough to dodge it, then that is why my husband has his hand on that trigger!"

Waving a device in his hand that he was already depressing, the husband explained. "I let go of this and our sprinkler system goes off—vervain sprinkler system, of course. Surprisingly good for the grass too! It will be enough to slow you down until my wife kills you. You won't make it out alive if we don't want you to. Now, what do you want?"

Elena sheepishly bowed her head, her long, thick chestnut hair falling and shrouding her face as she heeded the warning, taking a step back.

"We were referred to you by some friends of ours. They said that you were…Archivists? That you record supernatural history," Caroline said.

"What friends? What are their names?" interrogated the wife.

"Liv and Luke Parker," responded Elena.

"Yes, we know of them. Twins, right? So what?" the husband asked.

"Well, we want to know what happened to all those people who were on the Other Side. We had friends there who we're concerned about," Caroline said.

"We all had friends on the Other Side. What makes you think we know what happened to them? Furthermore, why would we tell a couple of vampires?" asked the wife.

"Please, we just want to know if they're okay," pleaded Elena.

"And who are these 'friends' of yours?" asked the husband.

"Well, one of them is my boyfriend—" started Elena.

"—AND," Caroline interrupted, "another is our witch friend who was the Anchor and—"

"The Anchor? Bennett...Bonnie Bennett?" asked the wife.

"Yes, yes, that's her! How did you know that?" asked Caroline.

"It's our business to know," responded the husband coldly.

"It's also somebody else's business to know, Bruce," the wife said to her husband.

The wife put her shotgun down and went inside the house.

"Make it fast, Viv. I don't trust these two," said Bruce, still holding both the trigger and Old Cong.

Elena turned her head slightly towards Caroline and began whispering. "Now's our chance. There's only one of them now. We can take him. With the both of us moving, we're fast enough. You take out the dog, I'll take out the guy."

Caroline shot her a bewildered look. "We are NOT going to do that! What's the matter with you?!"

"What's the matter with you?! If we don't do something, they're going to kill us."

"If they wanted to kill us, they'd have done it by now. Just…just wait until the wife comes back. They obviously know Bonnie." Caroline looked up at Bruce and the dog and gave a reassuring smile. "Besides, why do I have to take out the dog?"

"Because I don't like the idea of hurting a dog."

"Oh what…and I'm suddenly Cruella DeVille?! And what about the guy? You don't mind hurting him?"

"We're in a desperate spot, Caroline. Desperate measures!"

"You have got to be kidding me! I can't BELIEVE you just said that. Ya know, you are becoming more and more—"

By that point, both Elena and Caroline had dropped their hands and were standing opposite each other, Caroline slightly towering over Elena, arguing loudly enough for Bruce to hear.

"Uh, excuse me, careless whisperers! Would you mind keeping your hands up, please? Thank you!" Bruce said, waving the trigger in his hand.

"Sorry," Elena and Caroline said in unison as they went to put their hands back up.

Elena began grinding her teeth, breathing heavily through her nose and blinking incessantly.

 _Damn it, Caroline! We need some answers! We need to get Damon back. This all could be over with if you'd followed my lead. Now we're stuck here._

Elena looked at Bruce and then looked at Old Cong.

 _I could run up to Bruce and wrap my hands around his hand that's holding the trigger. It will break the bones in his hands but…oh well! He won't die from it. King Kong, or whatever his name is, I may have to kill him. He won't stop attacking. I don't want to kill him, but we have to do what we have to do. Then when the wife comes out, I can take her out. The only problem is—_

Elena gave Caroline a side look, shook her head and mouthed an expletive.

She closed her auburn eyes and began shifting most of her weight onto the ball of her left foot. She'd be using that as a launching point for her attack. Once she attacked Bruce, Caroline was either with her or against her. And if she was against her….

The front door suddenly swung open.

"It's okay, Bruce. Let them be. They won't hurt us. They've been vouched for," Vivien said as she came out of the house, carrying a tray with a tea pot and cups.

Bruce flipped a switch on his trigger and then let it go. He commanded Old Cong to sit down, who looked up at his master and then obediently followed the command, still weary of the vampires before him.

Caroline and Elena both looked at each other with nervous and perplexed smiles as they hesitated to lower their hands.

"Besides, I've been told these two have quite some history to tell us that will help us to update our records. That will help pass the time until our friend shows up," Vivien said. She began to set the tray on a table on the porch and pulled up two extra chairs.

"Well now ladies, what would you like in your tea?"

 _Hyde's Return_

Stefan sat on an ottoman in the middle of the living room, glaring at the floor. He was wringing his hands, the smell of dry blood wafting up into his nostrils. There was dry blood spattered everywhere around him—on the floor, on the ceiling, on the walls. His mouth was masked by it, his shirt soaked in it, the fair skin on his face spattered with it, his short, tussled brown hair sprinkled with it. He always struggled to clean things up after a ravenous Ripper frenzy. Guilt and remorse always overcame him. Sometimes, he could clean up. Sometimes he couldn't.

He closed his greenish blue eyes, his thick eyebrows furrowed as he replayed what happened the night before in his head, trying to pinpoint when and why he lost control.

"Hi, I'm looking for Julian or Carole Plies, please?" he recalled asking as he introduced himself.

"I'm Carole. What can I do for you?" said the slender, elderly Caucasian woman in the white night gown who answered the door.

Stefan had followed up on various leads throughout Virginia for weeks prior to coming to the Plies house. Each time he started off by telling the truth, only to be shut out by people who wanted nothing to do with Traveler magic or vampires.

This house showed promise though. The elderly couple were former Travelers who had forsaken the Traveler life years ago. Stefan figured that perhaps they still knew of Traveler magic, the same magic that was preventing any kind of spirit magic from being performed within Mystic Falls. Liv and Luke suggested that they could try a warped version of a Locator Spell to find out where Damon and Bonnie and all the other supernatural beings had gone to when the Other Side collapsed. But they would need to be in Mystic Falls to perform that spell. This was Stefan's best shot so far at finding answers that would give all of them some peace of mind.

Damon.

For a brief moment, Stefan smiled inside. For all of his big brother's impulsiveness and recklessness, he had to admit that Damon didn't dawdle. When he wanted something, he did what was necessary to get it. It was to his ultimate credit sometimes but, at least for Stefan, most of the time it was to his ultimate shame as well. But Stefan felt that such tactics were needed in this situation.

"I would like you to invite me in," Stefan said while staring deeply into Carole's eyes.

"Yes…of course…come in," Carole smiled, stepping aside while Stefan entered the house.

As soon as he got in, a portly, elderly Caucasian gentleman dressed in his nightgown appeared in the hallway.

"Honey, what's going on? Who is this person?" said Julian.

"Hi, uh…my name is Stefan. I was wondering if you could help me."

Julian ignored Stefan and walked straight towards his wife.

"Why did you invite him in?"

Carole looked at Stefan and then back at her husband.

"I…I don't know. I just felt like inviting him in," she said.

"Damn it! You've not been taking your vervain pills. I told you to take your vervain pills!"

"Oh, Jules! I hate taking those stupid vervain pills. I take enough pills as it is. Why do I have to take those wretched pills?" Carole said as she belligerently waved off her husband and headed for the living room to return to her jigsaw puzzle.

"To prevent a vampire from doing what this vampire just did!"

"Please, I don't mean any harm. I'm just looking for some answers," Stefan pleaded to the husband.

"No harm, eh? Then why'd you compel my wife to let you in?"

"Because I'm a bit desperate at this point and I need your help. I understand that you and your wife are former Travelers. That you know about their kind of magic."

"Sorry, we can't help you. We don't know any magic. That was the deal we made with the Travelers when we left them. We can't perform any magic of any kind. Besides, if you're looking for Travelers, there's a bunch of 'em around. Why would you need us?"

"Because all of the Traveler's are dead. They died in a small town near here called Mystic Falls."

Julian looked over at his wife. Carole looked back at him and then went back to her puzzle.

"Can't say I'm upset, really. Them bunch of chanting hobos. That's why we left them 40 years ago. We had enough of their vagabond lifestyle and empty promises. We started fresh. Had a family. Started new lives for ourselves."

Stefan softly smiled. He envied them tremendously.

"Starting new lives meant zero magic. But we still remember the supernatural. That's why we take vervain. We have wolf's bane around. We still know about the dangers that are out there."

"Look, I understand your situation. All I'm asking for is some help. The Travelers left some kind of no-magic barrier around that town I mentioned. It's still there, even though they all died. I'm trying to figure out how to bring it down."

"Well, we can't help you, son. We've been out of the magical loop for so long, we don't even remember the most basic spells, let alone anything that sounds as complicated as that. That's a new one to me. Now, since we can't help…if you don't mind," Julian said, motioning Stefan towards the front door.

"He could go see Diafawl," said Carole off-handedly while putting a puzzle piece down.

"Who?" asked Stefan.

"Nothing! Don't mind her, she's not taking her pills. She doesn't know what she's saying. Now…you were leaving?" Julian said as he stepped in to block Stefan from approaching Carole.

"No, wait…who did you say I could go to? Please, just tell me and I'll leave you alone."

"I SAID LEAVE!"

Stefan vamp-sped past Julian and knelt before Carole. He gently grabbed her hand that had just put down another puzzle piece and waited until she looked up. He then looked deep into her eyes.

"Who should I go to for help?"

"He's a man called Dia—"

Before Carole could finish, Stefan reeled back from the make-shift wooden stake that Julian grabbed from the hallway dresser and had lodged into his shoulder.

"Damn it!" Julian cursed as he approached Stefan, reaching to pull the stake out and hit Stefan's heart with his second attempt.

Stefan pulled the stake out of his shoulder. However, as he did so, he inadvertently cut Julian's wrist when he got too close while reaching for the stake. A spatter of Julian's blood landed on Stefan's mouth when Julian himself reeled back.

Stefan licked his lips. The blood was still warm—delectable— succulent. He hadn't tasted fresh human blood for several months. Even though he had grown accustomed to drinking human blood from a blood bag, for a vampire there truly was nothing as euphoric like drinking from a warm body. And for Stefan, there was nothing more seductive.

Julian's blood was dripping heavily from his wrist. Stefan gazed at the rich, dark crimson liquid pooling on the floor. The aroma was filling his nostrils. He closed his eyes, trying desperately to keep his composure. He could feel his fangs extending in his mouth, his eyes becoming blood shot. He was becoming thirsty…so very, very thirsty. He opened his eyes to see Carole attending to Julian's injury.

"Please—GET OUT OF HERE!" Stefan bellowed, deliberately slowing his approach to the couple, closing his eyes again as he finally forced himself to drop to one knee. Unfortunately, he dropped at the spot where Julian's blood had amalgamated on the floor. The scent was intoxicating. It was too much.

Julian and Carole moved as fast as they could out of the living room. In an instant, Stefan was in front of them. He grabbed Julian's arm and clamped his mouth over the wound, imbibing the luscious, warm fluid pouring out of Julian's wrist. Julian cried in agony as he tried to pull away, his wrist almost being broken in half by the power of Stefan's jaw strength. Carole screamed in alarm, hitting Stefan on the back with her fists. Finally, from the hallway she reached for an umbrella with a wooden tip. Stefan heard the danger behind him and let go of Julian's wrist. He shoved Julian hard against the wall, breaking his pelvis as he fell to the floor. Stefan stopped Carole's attack by blocking her arm and snapping it like a twig. She shrieked in pain while Stefan bit into her neck, biting so hard that he almost bit her head clean off. He would be successful in that task later in the evening.

Stefan snapped himself back from remembering. He looked over at the bodies of Julian and Carole that he so meticulously put back together and posed on the couch in front of him. He ran his fingers through his thick brown hair, which was normally coifed back but was now simply messy and tussled. He stood up and kicked the ottoman across the room. The ottoman ricocheted off the wall, causing photos that were hung to fall. He picked one photo up, what appeared to be a family group photo. He saw Julian and Carole with several other people—young adults and little children. Their children and grandchildren, Stefan figured.

He turned to look at the couple. He was blinking rapidly—his vision became blurry from the tears welling up in his eyes. His breathing became shallow and halting. He cleared his throat, trying to rid himself of the pressure building up in his chest. He tightly gripped the photo, cracking the glass and frame that housed it.

"I'm sorry for ruining your new life," Stefan softly said to Julian and Carole. "You deserved a better ending than this." He placed the photo on the living room table and opted to just leave rather than clean anything up.

Suddenly, Stefan heard a car coming up the driveway. He ran towards the window and could see the car parking. Out of the car came a man and a woman. Stefan recognized them from the photo—either a son or daughter with his or her spouse. Stefan observed as the husband opened the back seat doors to let out two children, a boy and a girl who couldn't have been more than 10 years old each. The kids started to run for the front door of the house. Stefan instinctively thought of vamp-running out the back door until he realized the mess that he was leaving in the living room. The kids started ringing the doorbell.

Stefan waited, listening to find out what the family would do. The kids were soon joined by their parents at the front door, and they rang the doorbell again and waited. They rang a third time.

"They're obviously here. Their car is in the driveway," Stefan could hear the husband say. "You know what? Why don't you two go and check the living room and kitchen windows? You know how grandma and grandpa sometimes can't hear the doorbell if they're listening to the radio or watching TV. If you see them, knock on the window and let them know we're here."

Stefan began envisioning the kids peering into the living room to see all the blood everywhere. He began to envision the husband and wife discovering the horribly mutilated bodies, the effect that such a discovery would have on them and their kids. He envisioned the grief, the shock, the pain, the psychological torment that this family would endure. No doubt other families of Stefan's past victims had faced the same thing. But Stefan had always left the scene long before his victims were discovered; out of sight, out of mind. But now, he was left with the concrete knowledge that someone would suffer anguish over what he had done.

His eyes were darting side to side and his hands were fidgeting. He started thinking about what he could do. Compulsion was the obvious solution. But what would he tell them? What could he tell them? How would he explain his own presence in that house? How would he explain his blood soaked appearance?

He vamp-sped his way to the front door before the kids could follow their dad's instructions.

With a deep breath, Stefan turned the handle and opened the door.

 _Good Jeremy Hunting_

He had the vampire in his sights.

He fired his crossbow.

The shot wasn't even close.

The vampire vanished in an instant.

Jeremy reloaded his crossbow while looking around. He squinted to focus his brown eyes through the darkness.

 _Where's Matt?_

He lost sight of Matt five minutes prior when Matt caught a glimpse of the vampire and recklessly went to go kill it. He never returned.

They'd been in the woods outside of Mystic Falls for a half an hour, and even though the moonlight was shining radiantly, Jeremy was still having trouble getting used to seeing at night. The abundance of trees and foliage didn't help either.

With his crossbow finally re-loaded, Jeremy continued forward.

He cross-over stepped slowly while scanning in all directions. He was trying to filter out his own footsteps so as to hear the noises in the forest. There was no animal life. No birds or crickets chirping, no little critters scurrying in the underbrush. A soft breeze blew across the woods, sifting through Jeremy's dark brown, floppy hair, carrying the sounds of rustling leaves and swaying branches.

Jeremy's heart was beating in his ear, thumping so deep and rapidly that it was becoming a distraction. He knew he had to get his anxiety under control. If he could hear his own heart that loudly, so could the vampire.

A twig snapped and Jeremy immediately turned around and pointed his crossbow at the direction of the sound. There was nothing there. His muscles were tense. His heart was beating faster than ever. His breathing became heavy yet rapid. He had a feeling that someone was nearby. For a moment, he laughed inside, thinking that this is what it must have felt like to be Spiderman with his Spidey-Senses.

Jeremy turned around again to look behind him and almost pulled the trigger. But again, there was nothing there. He kept looking everywhere but saw only trees and darkness. The hairs on his skin were electrified and standing up. His nerves were tingling. His instincts were screaming at him that he was being watched, that his life was in danger. But after scoping his surroundings a third time, Jeremy finally lowered his crossbow.

A series of leaves crackling and branches breaking could be heard from above him. He looked up to see a dark figure falling from the height of the one of the trees. It must have been about five stories high! The figure landed right in front of Jeremy.

Jeremy raised his crossbow to fire but it was too late. The vampire blocked and threw away the crossbow and shoved Jeremy to the ground. Jeremy reached for the stake in his coat pocket, got back up and lunged for the vampire.

Despite Jeremy's muscular frame, the vampire was much too strong and fast for him. In one swift motion, the vampire caught Jeremy's hand, disarmed him of the stake, and flung Jeremy against a tree that was roughly ten meters away.

Jeremy's back and head slammed against the trunk. But before he could even bounce off the tree to hit the ground, the vampire was there in front of him. He caught Jeremy and held him up against the tree with one hand. Being already taller than Jeremy, the vampire held up Jeremy until they were both at the same height, with Jeremy's feet dangling in the air. Jeremy could barely make out the bluish-grey iris' of his attacker's eyes being overwhelmed by the blood-shot effect of his vampire transformation. The vampire's lightly stubbled face inched closer to his, finally cranking Jeremy's head to the side with his other hand to expose Jeremy's neck. The vampire bared his fangs and went in for the kill.

Abruptly, the vampire stopped. He looked down towards his chest.

Jeremy stood wild eyed, shaking and a little woozy. He watched as the vampire slowly fell to the ground, grasping at the two arrow tips jutting through his torso.

Jeremy looked up to see a figure walking towards him. As the figure got closer, the silhouette blocked out the moonlight. His short, dirty blonde hair created an almost halo effect that Jeremy, in his dizzied state, was taken aback by. Finally, he recognized the strange outline as belonging to Matt, holding his crossbow, smiling at him. Matt moved closer to Jeremy, keeping his crossbow trained on the vampire.

"You okay, Jer?"

"Yeah…yeah, I'm fine. What happened? I thought I lost you back there when you split off from me."

"I was almost toast! Thankfully, I had a vervain grenade in my pocket. Threw it in his face as he approached me. Then I ran off and was trying to find you. Looks like I found you just in time when he got the jump on you, literally!"

Jeremy legs were shaky and he lost his balance. Matt leaned over to prop him up when the vampire suddenly started to stir on the ground.

"That was good, Matt. That was very good," said the vampire as he got up, standing head and shoulders above both Matt and Jeremy. "Not bad for someone without any supernatural Hunter powers." He pulled the two composite arrows out from his chest and threw them away. "But you Jeremy…what were you thinking? You knew I was around. I could tell. And yet you lowered your weapon? And where's your side arm?"

Jeremy turned his face away from Alaric's blue eyed, interrogative gaze.

"I forgot my side arm."

"You forgot your side arm," Alaric echoed, nodding disapprovingly.

"Give me a break, Ric! You came from the top of the trees. What is this, Twilight? What real vampire is going to do that?"

"Really, Jeremy?! Not to sound cliché but ever hear the expression 'expect the unexpected?' With everything that you've come across with vampires and werewolves and hybrids, you're seriously throwing that out as an excuse?"

"Look! You're practically an Original vampire. You're faster and stronger than any vampire out there, possibly even Klaus! Cut me a little slack."

"No, I won't cut you a little slack. Matt survived and he's in the same situation as you are. Actually, he's worse off than you because he's just a human. You? You're stronger and have better instincts. You've been supernaturally blessed with the tools needed to hunt vampires. And what if you do face an Original again? What then?"

"I did kill Kol!"

"With Elena's help! Don't think I haven't been watching, Jer. I know what's been going on."

Jeremy shook his head and started to walk away. Alaric grabbed his arm and pulled him close.

"HEY! You wanted this, remember? YOU came to ME! You wanted to train to prevent what happened before to you and Bonnie from happening again."

"Yeah, and do you remember who almost killed me for that second time? Oh, yeah! It was your good buddy, Damon, with his good buddy, Enzo! Do YOU remember that?"

"I haven't forgotten, Jer. And believe me, I'll have something to say to Damon when we find him."

"IF we find him. Elena and them haven't found anything yet that could possibly help us to find out where Bonnie went to, much less bring her and Damon back. And they never will. So it seems your little pep talk to Damon will never happen. Not that it would've happened anyways, right? You'd probably toast a drink to him while you both chug back a few and laugh the night away."

Jeremy wrestled his arm free from Alaric's grip. He looked at Matt and then back at Alaric. "I changed my mind. Forget this. I'm going home." He turned and walked away.

Alaric lowered his gaze to the ground. Matt put his hand on his shoulder.

"I'll talk to him, Ric."

As soon as Matt left, Alaric raised and shook his head.

"Twilight?!" he spurted out incredulously.

Alaric's hearing suddenly picked up something. He looked upwards towards the top of the trees. The sound was gone, but Alaric kept scanning. His hearing was so enhanced that he could hear an ant walking up a tree from five yards away if he wanted to. He definitely heard something that resembled the sound of human movement, but it was coming from the top of the trees, which meant that it was something supernatural. Whatever it was, it was gone, and Alaric's focus was broken when he heard Matt talking to Jeremy in the distance.

Jeremy was a few meters away when Matt hollered out to him.

"Hey, Jer! Wait up!"

"Leave me alone Matt."

Matt caught up to Jeremy and turned him around by his shoulder.

"Listen, dude. I get why you're upset. I miss her too. But until Caroline, Elena and Stefan find something to go on, we've got to keep our minds on something else. Like Ric said, with everything we've been through, we have to be prepared. You can't give this up. You've been blessed with a gift. Use it!"

"I didn't ask for this 'gift.' It doesn't matter anymore. Silas is dead. The Travelers are dead. There are no more supernatural creatures in Mystic Falls. So there's no need for a Brotherhood of the Five Hunter," Jeremy said, distancing himself away from Matt and shrugging his shoulders. "So I'm free! Besides, you seem to be better at the job than I am. Alaric thinks you're the greatest!"

"I'm better because I put in the effort. Damn it, Jer! Why does it have to be like pulling teeth to get you to do anything?"

Jeremy waved Matt off and continued on his way.

"Ya know…I never understood what Bonnie ever saw in you," Matt called out. "You quit school. You quit your job at The Grill. You quit being a Hunter. I've known Bonnie for most of my life and I know she's never been into quitters! Because sooner or later, she figured they'd probably quit on her too!"

Jeremy stopped. With wide, ocean blue eyes trying to absorb as much light as possible, Matt watched as Jeremy turned sideways with his fists clenched and his face downcast with a scowl that the darkness partially hid. While Matt did not possess the same supernatural strength of a Hunter that Jeremy did, nor was he as muscular, Matt's athletic physique and sporty quickness was sufficient to at least give Jeremy a run for his money in a one-on-one fight. Matt's anxiety softened as he saw Jeremy finally look up towards him, sneer, turn around and leave.

As he passed by a tall cedar tree, his Hunter senses went off again. He stopped and searched his surroundings. He could feel a pair of eyes on him.

"Piss off, Ric! I'm done with the training. Go and stalk someone else!" Jeremy huffed. He continued his march towards Mystic Falls.

A shrouded figure stood near the top of the cedar tree, maintaining a balance on the extremely flexible yet flimsy branches, even as the wind swayed the tree back and forth. The stranger observed Jeremy walking alone and thought about jumping down and killing him then and there. But the stranger was also aware of the close proximity of the vampire, Ric—an unexpected threat. The vampire Ric seemed far more dangerous than any other vampire the stranger had faced in the past. There could be no interference. The stranger observed Jeremy finally pass into the borders of Mystic Falls. It was too late. Vengeance would have to wait. Besides, the stranger wanted both Gilbert children together. They both had to suffer.

The stranger leapt off the cedar tree and disappeared into the dark of the night.

 _The Endless Reflections II_

Damon awoke.

He was on laying a floor groggy, disoriented—and completely naked.

He looked around and noticed that the ceiling, the floor, all four walls—they were all mirrors. He stood up to see himself reflected in all directions, and his reflection reflected and so on and so on, for infinity. He could see himself very clearly, as the room seemed to be very well lit, but when he looked up, he couldn't see a light source. No lamp or bulb or anything.

Damon noted his naked condition.

"Ooookay! Not the first time I've woken up naked in a room filled with mirrors. Las Vegas, New Year's Day, 2000 baby! Hell of a way to start the new millennium with a bang. Several 'bangs' actually."

Damon walked over to one of the mirror walls, teetering slightly from the disorienting effect of the multiple reflections. He finally got to one wall and began posing in front of it, checking out his body's side profile.

"Should probably lay off the liquor a bit," he muttered to himself, running his hands over his stomach which was still sporting a six-pack though not as pronounced as it used to be. Regardless, Damon looked over the rest of his body, admiring his muscular, athletic form that he didn't have to work too hard at maintaining. His bluish-diamond coloured eyes scrutinized his white skin, feeling a sense of pride over how flawless it truly was. He ran his hand through his messy, jet black hair before turning around and looking at the rest of the room.

As he began to wander around the room, his memories of the final moments on the Other Side began coming back to him. He remembered holding hands with Bonnie while a bright light enveloped the both of them.

"UH…HEY, BON BON?" Damon hollered. "ARE YOU IN HERE? IF YOU ARE…UH…DO YOU HAVE A TOWEL OR TRENCHCOAT OR SOMETHING? NOT THAT I MIND THE PUBLIC DISPLAY BUT I DO LIKE BEING WINED AND DINED BEFORE SHOWING OFF THE MERCHANDISE!"

Damon noticed that his voice wasn't echoing off the walls at all. It was like the walls absorbed his voice rather than reflected it. Damon's brows furrowed as he tried to process this new and disturbing sensation.

"Hello, Damon."

Damon half jumped, startled by the voice of a woman standing behind him.

"Elena?"

"Tsk, tsk, Damon. After all these years you still can't tell the difference, can you?"

"Katherine!" Damon snarled.

She walked towards him, wearing a black blazer and short, black skirt, dressed the same as she was the last time Damon remembered seeing her when she possessed Elena's body. Though her hair was much more wavy and fuller than Elena's, a key difference between the two.

"Oh, don't pretend you're not happy to see me."

"I'm not pretending."

"Well, I'm certainly happy to see you. ALL of you!" Katherine said, running her hand down Damon's abdomen until she got to his groin.

"What are you doing here?" Damon asked, forcibly removing Katherine's hand from his body. "Is this your idea of a joke, with the mirrors and stuff? Where's Bonnie? Where are we?"

"Oh, poo!" Katherine pouted. "What happened to you? You used to be so much fun. Don't tell me you've stopped craving me. You've desired to be with me for over 150 years. That doesn't go away overnight."

"I'm over you Katherine. I've been over you for a long time now. So deal with it! Now, answer my question. What's going on?!"

"Ooooo, I've liked you more ever since you grew a backbone," Katherine said, replacing her hand on Damon's groin. "You're over me? Why? Because your precious Elena accepted you? It's funny how you've fallen for a woman, a vampire no less, that looks and acts exactly like me."

"Elena is NOTHING like you," Damon said, again trying to remove Katherine's hand.

"She's my doppelganger."

"She's AMARA'S doppelganger!"

"Please! A distinction without a difference. Besides, we're more alike than you realize. And if you don't believe me, ask her," Katherine motioned to Damon to look behind him.

Standing on the opposite side of the room was Elena, dressed in a black blazer, lace black top and black jeans, exactly how Damon remembered her when he last visited her in the Salvatore tomb before the Other Side collapsed.

"Elena!"

"Hi Damon," she replied, giggling.

Damon extricated himself from Katherine and went to hug his girlfriend.

"Elena! What's going on? Is this real?"

"Yes, Damon, it's real. Absolutely it's real!"

Elena kissed Damon passionately, aggressively. After a while he actually had to pull himself away because she was getting almost violent about it.

"What's going on? You're not dead. This can't be the Other Side."

"No Damon. It's not the Other Side. This place, it's a magical place—a place where dreams and fantasies and desires all come together."

"And what about her?" Damon asked, motioning to Katherine.

"It's okay, Damon. I know you still have feelings for her. Like she said, you don't get rid of that overnight. And she was right about something else."

Elena walked over to Katherine and reached her hand out to her while Katherine did the same. Once their hands touched, Elena pulled Katherine into her and began kissing her.

Damon stood motionless with his mouth gaping open and his eyes transfixed. He could see their tongues wrestling against the other, their hands groping and feeling the other's body. It was passionate, chaotic, seductive, and intense. They began tugging and ripping at each other's clothes. Damon didn't feel aroused. He felt almost disturbed. Not with the idea of two women making out, but these two women in particular. He knew neither Katherine nor Elena would ever act like this.

"Then you never really knew us, did you Damon?" Elena breathlessly asked, breaking away briefly to look at Damon, and then continuing her passionate kissing assault with Katherine.

"No…no…this…this isn't…this isn't real," Damon stammered, tripping backwards over his own feet, falling onto the floor.

Katherine and Elena stopped kissing and walked towards him. Damon reached his hand out defensively while crawling backwards, away from the approach of the doppelgängers.

"Shhh! Don't be afraid, Damon," Elena said, straddling herself over top of his groin. "This is what I want. This is what she wants. We want it because we know you want it. We're here to make you happy."

Elena began gently gyrating her hips back and forth while slowly removing her top. Meanwhile, Katherine revealed her fangs and bit into Damon's wrist, sucking his blood. She stopped and with her mouth covered in Damon's blood, went to passionately kiss Elena. Elena's own fangs appeared and she began to slowly lick the outside of Katherine's mouth and lips, lapping up every bit of Damon's blood that was there.

Damon started to become aroused. He knew it was wrong. He knew that this shouldn't be. It was a fantasy that he had never had about either of them, but it was a fantasy that he welcomed. Damon rested his head back and stared up at the ceiling. It was then that he finally noticed something strange—he was the only one being reflected in the mirrors. Neither Katherine nor Elena was showing up in any of the reflections.

But before he could react to his discovery, Elena's face suddenly blocked his view.

"Stop fighting this Damon. Just say 'yes.' That's all you have to do," Elena said, kissing him. Damon could taste his own blood still mingled with Elena's and Katherine's saliva. She stopped kissing him and looked at him, stroking the side of his face. "This place is magical. We will make things better for you. But we need your consent. Just accept us. Just say 'yes!'"

Damon looked over at Katherine, who began taking her clothes off too. He looked back at Elena, who was smiling that smile that always reassured him that everything was okay.

"Yes," Damon said. "Why the hell not? This must be heaven. Yes!"

He moved his head forward to kiss Elena again but she moved her head back. She started giggling. The giggling turned into laughter. The laughter turned into maniacal glee. Soon Katherine started laughing the same way too. They were soon both doubled on the floor, laughing uncontrollably.

"What—what's funny? What's going on?" Damon asked quizzically.

"I told you he would be an easy one."

Damon looked over to his right to see a familiar person standing on the other side of the room—naked.

"Stefan? What…what's going on?"

It wasn't the shock of seeing his little brother in that room. It wasn't the nudity that stunned Damon. It was the eyes. Stefan's eyes reminded him of those of a dragon that he once saw in a kid's picture book. A black, narrow slit, with a feint halo of red, with the rest of his eyes an iridescent, hypnotic gold. The outside of his eyes were dark and veiny, vampire-like but much darker.

"You always were the weak one—always giving into temptation so willingly. It's why we adore you so. It's why you will make the perfect delegate."

Damon noticed that Katherine and Elena had stopped laughing. He looked over to them to see the both of them horribly disfigured. Their skin had become cracked and ashen grey, their eyes exactly like Stefan's. Their mouths twisted into a demented smile.

"Alright! If it's a fight you want, I'll give it to you," Damon sneered, attempting to get up off the floor.

"There's no need to fight, brother. We've already won."

At that moment, Damon felt himself being lifted off the floor by some invisible force. He was powerless to move as he was turned over in mid-air and then smashed face down onto the floor. As soon as he landed, multiple hands morphed up from the mirror surface, grabbing at Damon and holding him down.

"Of course, to join a delegation, you must become a member. And to become a member requires initiation rites," Stefan said, walking over to Damon. "Don't fight. It's so much easier when you don't fight."

Damon struggled to get up off but it was futile. The power of the multiple hands was too much. He suddenly felt Stefan lying on top of him.

"No! NO! GET OFF OF ME! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! LET ME GO! I DON'T WANT THIS!"

"You humans. You witches. You werewolves. You vampires. All of you—our children—flirting with us as though you can walk away and not enter into our orbit! You flirted with us, remember Damon? In New Orleans, 1942, when you touched us. Such a tease! You did well. Sacrificing twelve humans for the Triangle…all to break your little sire bond. It wasn't much. Just enough to graze us—to allow us to mark you for future use. Like Bonnie, you bypassed so much! With you, we just needed an agreement. Consent! Your blessing! AHA HA HA HA HA! Congratulations. Because here we are, ready to seal the deal!"

Stefan clawed at Damon's back and then licked at each claw mark that he made while Damon clenched his teeth, his eyes blazing as he continued to spit out his objections. Damon could hear Elena and Katherine begin to laugh again. But soon their voices changed. They became genderless—neither male nor female.

"GET THE HELL OFF OF ME! I SAID NO!"

"Your lips say no, Damon," Stefan whispered into his ear. Then in a voice that matched the laughter coming from the doppelgangers, Stefan shrieked: "BUT YOU'VE ALREADY SAID YES!"

Stefan pulled on Damon's hair, licked the side of his neck and then dug his fangs into his flesh. He bit him multiple times as he grinded his body against Damon's.

He stopped and with a blood soaked mouth breathlessly whispered again into Damon's ear. "We will revive your taste for death. We will banish this disgusting goodness you have cultivated! We will drive—DRIVE—it all out. Better…we will make you better! We will enhance. We will augment. We will be with you forever—forever—we will be with you forever! We welcome you, Damon…into the Sovereignty. And you will welcome the Sovereignty…into YOU!"

The room went black.

Triumphant, delirious merriment soon drowned out Damon's cries of protest.


	2. TVD S6 - Part 1 Ch2

_The Archivists_

"Wait, wait…slow down a bit."

Bruce was typing away on his laptop as fast as he could while Elena recounted the recent history of the Travelers invading Mystic Falls.

"Markos led the Travelers….Mystic Falls….the Grill, is it?...okay…the Grill. There! Now, to save, and I'll be posting this to the website this evening."

"You guys have a website?" Caroline asked while reaching for the last piece of Vivien's delectable chocolate pound cake.

"You took the last piece!" Elena chided.

"Well—*munch-munch-munch*—iphs really gud!" mumbled Caroline with the last piece wholly stuffed in her mouth.

"Don't worry, dear. I have another one in the kitchen. I'm always amazed at how heightened your vampires' senses are, especially with taste! You all tend to appreciate my cooking a bit more. I'll be right back."

As Vivien went back into the house, Caroline took a sip of her tea while Elena continued to ask Bruce about the Archivists.

"So, why haven't we heard of the Archivists before?"

"You probably have. The term 'Archivists' is not an official designation. We've gone through a variety of names throughout history. The Watchers. The Observers. The Record Keepers. The Librarians. Stuff like that. Most in the witching community know of us, but because we're meant to only record supernatural history and not become a part of it, referrals to us tend to be few and far between."

"But you guys are, like, an organization, right? You have a website and everything," Caroline assumed.

"I wouldn't say it's an official organization. We don't have a headquarters or memberships or secret handshakes or stuff like that. Basically, it's sort of like being a professor. You happen to specialize in a specific field of study and know other professors of the same field and you get together every now and then to compare notes. That's what we do."

"How did you get involved? I mean, I can't imagine you fill out a job application or apply online," asked Elena.

"Some just fall into it. Some are born into it. And some of us—," Bruce smiled as his wife returned to the porch with another chocolate pound cake, "—we marry into it!"

Elena and Caroline both looked at each other and smiled. Vivien placed the cake on the table and sat down again, wondering why everyone was smiling at her. "What are we talking about?"

"The girls were just asking about the Archivist lifestyle. They want to know what we're all about."

"Oh, there's not much to tell really. It can get really stuffy sometimes. All this information and history. It can be a rather boring life, really."

"Well, you obviously have been in involved in your fair share of adventures," Elena commented, giving a nod towards the trigger that Bruce had left on the table, "what with your vervain sprinkler system!"

Bruce grabbed the trigger. "That…was actually a bit of a lie."

"You mean, it doesn't work?" asked Caroline.

"Oh, it works. I tell vampires that vervain story to see what kind of people I'm dealing with. Some vampires try and go for the trigger or for us, thinking they're fast and sturdy enough to endure a vervain shower."

Elena's eyes sheepishly lowered and her face blushed. She quickly took a sip of her tea to hide her signs of guilt.

"But our lawn's sprinkler system doesn't shoot vervain. This is a trigger for a sonic disruptor, specifically geared to affect vampire hearing frequencies. That's the disadvantage to your enhanced hearing. You can receive frequencies that humans cannot. A vampire hunter friend of ours designed this one. Got him out of many a sticky situation. As a 'thank you' for helping him with some info that he needed, he gave this one to us. It too has gotten us out of some sticky situations of our own!" Bruce stroked the trigger. "I set this off and you two would be on the floor within seconds, unconscious with your ear drums burst into a million pieces. Only problem is, it doesn't do a lot of good for other creatures who have exceptional hearing, like werewolves….or dogs!" Bruce petted Cong on the head.

Caroline and Elena glanced at each other, both remembering a similar device that Elena's biological father, John, had used to subdue the vampires in Mystic Falls a few years ago.

"That's weird. We came across a weapon just like that some years ago too. I thought it was a one-of-a-kind kind of do-hickey," Caroline said.

"You'll find that some things aren't as unique as you might think. Whether it's weapons or spells or ancient relics...when one thing is known to work, and works really well, it's not uncommon for such things to be duplicated," replied Vivien. "Heaven knows we've helped spread the word on what works and what doesn't work."

Caroline reached for another piece of cake, only to have Elena slap her hand.

"Hey! At least let me grab a slice this time before you devour the whole thing," Elena teased as she reached for her own piece.

"—*sigh*—Fine!" Caroline said, feigning frustration. As she let her hand rest at her side, she felt a strange sensation along her fingertips that tickled her. She looked down to see Old Cong licking away at the chocolate still left on her fingers.

"CONG!" bellowed Vivien.

Cong looked over at her and lowered his head. He laid down beside Caroline and rested his head on the floor, his eyes looking up at Caroline, seemingly with confusion and guilt.

"Sorry about that. He's quite the fan of my cooking too, even though it may not always be good for him," Vivien said.

"Oh, it's okay. I thought he didn't like vampires though."

"He's grown accustomed to the supernatural," Bruce responded. "Werewolves and vampires and ghosts get his attention but they don't spook him. Just like with people, with time he can tell who to trust and who not to trust."

Caroline bent down and began scratching Cong behind his ears. He became responsive, with his tail wagging excitedly. He eventually rolled over onto his back to let Caroline rub his belly.

"Awwww…who likes his belly rubbed? Huh? Who likes his belly rubbed?" Caroline murmured as she vigorously rubbed Cong's stomach.

"You always did have a way with the canine species," Elena said wryly.

Caroline looked up at her with flattened lips and an incredulous stare.

"Oh, are you a big dog lover, Caroline?" Vivienne asked.

"Dog lover? Uh…sure…I guess—"

"She's attempted to tame a couple of wild dogs in her time!" Elena mused.

With Caroline's eyes burning a hole right through her, Elena reached over and grabbed another piece of pound cake and offered it to her.

"Cake?"

Caroline graciously took the piece and gave Elena a sardonic smile. Elena smiled back and wiped her hands on a napkin.

"Well, it's nice to know that you two have a tough dog to protect you," she said as she reached down to pet Cong.

Cong suddenly turned his attention to Elena and began growling and baring his teeth. Elena instinctively pulled her hand away and sat frozen for a moment.

"CONG! HERE!" commanded Bruce.

Cong stopped growling and went around the table and stood beside Bruce. He motioned him to lay down and Cong obeyed immediately.

"Aaaand...I guess I don't have a way with canines!" Elena bemoaned, smiling nervously while slumping in her chair.

"I'm so sorry," Bruce said. "He must sense something different about you. When did you say you became a vampire?"  
"Uhhh, a couple of years ago, I think. With everything that's gone on, it's sometimes difficult to keep track of time. Why? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, you're a unique creation—a doppelganger who is a vampire. Two supernatural manifestations in one being. Quite the rarity," Bruce said.

Elena laughed inside. She thought of Katherine, Stefan, even Klaus—all of them a combination of two different supernatural entities like herself. And none of them had a sterling reputation to speak of.

"Well, I guess like your vampire sonic disruptor, it's not as rare as one might think," Caroline said, shooting a sarcastic look towards Elena.

"—*ahem*—speaking of rarities," piped Elena, attempting to change the subject, "I'm hoping the Traveler's spell around Mystic Falls isn't so rare that it hasn't been done before either. Is there a way to bring that spell down?"

"For as old as they are, there is very little known about Travelers or their magic. Their history gets muddled with other gypsy groups so it's difficult to separate fact from fiction. Certainly there's never been a spell like that in any recorded history that we know of. So we'll have to get back to you on that," Bruce replied.

"Thanks. We just need to know about what happened to all those people on the Other Side, if they're in any danger," Elena said.

"I'm curious to know myself. The Other Side has been there for so long that it's tough to say what would happen to all those people who were there, or what happens to supernatural beings that die now," Vivien said, sipping her tea. "We had some good friends on the Other Side too."

"Speaking of that, you mentioned that you knew Bonnie and someone else who was interested in her and who also vouched for us. Who was that? We don't know anyone around here who would know us," asked Elena.

Vivien was about to answer when they all noticed someone standing at the porch stairs. A slender woman that looked to be in her late 30's or early 40's began ascending up onto the porch. She had long, brown hair done up in a ponytail, nutmeg skin that reminded both Elena and Caroline of Bonnie's skin. Cong raced over to her, his tail wagging profusely as he went to greet the familiar visitor. Elena and Caroline didn't share Cong's enthusiasm, with both of them awkwardly adjusting themselves in their chairs as the woman approached the table. She didn't seem happy to see the two of them either.

"What's happened to my daughter?" Abby Bennett sternly asked the two girls.

 _Istas_

The tranquil, cloudless, sunny afternoon silence was broken by the sound of a liquid cool, 100 hp V-twin engine of an Indian Scout Thunder Black Smoke bike that announced her arrival at the border of Mystic Falls. Istas dismounted off the bike and took off her helmet. She always felt weird wearing a helmet, considering that she didn't really need it. But Nancy would always chastise her for not keeping up appearances.

"You have to blend in with the human populace," Nancy once told her. "And that means pretending that safety matters to an immortal vampire."

Nancy would insist on the full gear of a leather jacket and pants, but Istas would have none of that. On most days, she was comfortable in her black combat boots, black or dark blue cargo pants and a comfortable shirt, with the only leather being her short, brown leather jacket that once belonged to her sister, Angeni. She needed to be combat ready, and that meant putting comfort over 'blending in.' But Nancy was nothing if not persistent, so Istas compromised on wearing the helmet.

As she walked to the border of Mystic Falls, her cellphone went off. Istas looked down at the display screen and gave a wry smile.

"Checking up on me already, Nance?"

"Well, by other's calculations, you should have been in the Mystic Falls area for the past few days. I just want to make sure you're sticking to the plan. How is Mystic Falls? Can you get in?"

Istas approached the border. As she passed her arm across the boundary, her hand immediately began to sizzle in the sunlight despite her daylight jewellery's protection. She kept her hand within the town border for a few seconds longer, allowing it to become engulfed in flames. Istas grimaced yet didn't squeal or make any sound, enduring the pain until she could endure no longer. She swiftly withdrew her hand back from inside of Mystic Falls. The flames on her hands began to die down and she instantly began to heal.

"Looks like the spirits were right. There is a spell over Mystic Falls that doesn't allow conventional magic to work. I can't cross right now in the daytime unless I want to burst into flames. And according you, I can't go at nighttime either. Good thing I didn't try the other night."

"Why the other night? Did you spot one of the doppelgangers?"

"No, but I did get a positive ID on the Gilbert brother. Would've gotten him if he hadn't ventured into Mystic Falls."

"IZZY!" squawked Nancy over the phone.

"What?"

"You are not there for revenge! We've been over this. You're there to find the doppelgangers and get their cooperation."

"Look, you said that the spirits don't know which of them we need. So that means—"

"So that means that you keep the both of them alive. And it certainly means that you DO NOT kill the Petrova doppelganger's little brother. This isn't about your revenge."

Istas rolled her eyes as she switched her phone from one ear to the other.

"And don't roll your eyes at me," commanded Nancy.

"I didn't."

"Yes, you did. I can tell."

"Cannot!"

"Can too!"

"Aren't you a little old to be playing that game with me? You're supposed to be the tribe's 'wise, old medicine woman,'" Istas replied sarcastically.

"I am wise."

"Old age doesn't make you wise."

"As proven by you!"

Istas stifled a chuckle. As old as she was, Nancy still had a sharp wit about her. Istas was about to respond when she heard a car coming in the distance. With the car windows rolled down, Istas could clearly hear the occupants talking. Judging by the tone of voices, it was three guys, sounding straight out of high school or college. And they were talking about her.

"Hey! Hold up! Check out that babe near the bike!"

"Oooooo…ya think she needs a ride somewhere?"

"Damn! Check out that body! She kind of looks like Lara Croft, right?"

"A little…but her legs are a bit thick and her rack is too small."

"Who cares about her rack? Check out that ass!"

"Yeah…the rest of her is certainly bang-able. If she needs a ride somewhere, I'll give her a ride for sure! HA HA HA HA HA!"

"Hey, let me do the talking. You guys will just mess things up!"

Istas took a deep sigh and looked skyward. Angeni always used to tease Istas about her natural sex appeal.

"You don't get it, do you, Izzy?" Angeni once asked her. "It's not just your looks. It's your attitude as well. Some guys like a strong woman. Doesn't hurt that you inherited _í-hla_ 's looks too!"

Istas did indeed inherit their mother's looks—the long, dark auburn hair, the smooth and olive complexion, almond shaped eyes that housed soft, yet striking brownish-green irises.

Despite Istas' best efforts to draw attention away from her looks, keeping her hair tied back in a ponytail and wearing no makeup which helped to highlight the vertical scar that ran over her left eye, she found herself the object of admiration of many a male suitor. But none interested her. Not since….

Her mind was forcefully returned to the present by the honking the boys in the car made as they slowly sidled up alongside her.

"Nance, I'm going to let you go. A bunch of _suyápu_ just arrived in a car. I'll call you later when I have something to report."

"Remember what I told you. Leave the doppelgangers and the Gilbert kid alive. You hear me?"

"Of course I hear you."

"You promise not to kill them?"

"Bye Nance."

"IZZY!"

Istas hung up and turned around to face the oncoming car. A red-headed guy sat in the passenger side, who leaned his head out of the window to talk to her. But before he could say anything, the driver leaned over and spoke to her first.

"Hey, are you okay? Are you stranded? Do you need help?"

"Do I look like I need help?" Istas coolly answered.

Ginger-boy in the passenger seat started chuckling, while the driver smiled, seemingly impressed by Istas' sassy attitude.

"Hey, we're just trying to be gentlemanly here. Seeing a gorgeous, young lady standing alone by the side of the road. Just wanted to make sure your—," the driver leaned his head to the side as he attempted to read the brand name of Istas' bike, "—Indian Scout?—didn't break down on you."

"Thanks for your concern," Istas responded, crossing her arms. "But I'm fine."

"I'll say," the guy in the backseat whispered under his breath.

"What was that, junior?" Istas asked.

Backseat-boy shot a look of surprise that his comment was heard, while the driver again grinned at the feistiness that Istas was displaying.

"Hey, don't mind him," the driver continued. "Listen, you seem to be new around here. Is this your first time in Mystic Falls? Maybe we can show you around…help you find your way?"

The driver's deep, blue eyes and his boyish grin was very disarming. The other two looked like the average party frat-boy. But the driver seemed to have magnetism to him. He reminded Istas of a very young Frank Sinatra—a guy who had a gentleman's charm with a bad-boy persona lying just beneath the surface. It was a dangerous combination that Istas was all too familiar with and had even fallen prey to in the past. She had no intention of being prey again.

"Look boys. I know what you want, and I'm not interested. So why don't you just keep on driving before I do something to this pretty little car of yours, if not to you!"

The three guys started laughing.

"Damn! Maybe she is Lara Croft!" said Backseat-boy. "She's going to whip us!"

"Oh, sweetheart. You can hurt me anytime you want! Just as long as I—get to hurt you back," Ginger-boy said, scrutinizing Istas' body up and down with his eyes.

"Okay, look sugar," scoffed Sinatra-boy. "We were just offering you help. That's all. You wanna be all 'femi-nazi' about it, that's your problem. Enjoy your ride on your Indian bike. Just remember to go 'WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH' as you're riding down the road," he ridiculed, repeatedly slapping his open hand over his mouth, mocking the traditional Native American war cry. His mockery drew irreverent glee from his buddies.

Before they could drive away, Istas leaned over and placed her hand on the passenger side-door. She looked to her left and to her right. She detected no sights or sounds of any human activity. They were all alone.

Her blood was boiling, from anger but also from hunger. It had been a while since she last fed, and it certainly was a long while since she had fed on a warm body. She realized that she could feed on, and perhaps even kill, these three young males and nobody would be the wiser for it. Her head was lowered towards the ground and her hands braced the door panel. Her eyes became dark and blood-shot as black veins appeared around them. She could feel her fangs protruding out as she prepared to rip the door off its hinges and rip the three boys apart.

But she didn't. Istas was never a careless killer. She was a planner and a strategist at heart. Beautiful yet cold like snow, she was calculating in her reasoning. She and Nancy had discussed the town of Mystic Falls and how it had its fair share of vampire activity dating back decades. No doubt the authorities were well aware of what a vampire attack looked like, being able to separate victims of a vampire attack from the colloquial 'animal attack.' Since it wasn't a big town, Istas knew that everyone probably knew everyone, and that even these three losers would no doubt be missed by somebody in town. She needed to find Elena and Jeremy Gilbert, and she didn't want to raise any alarm bells or bring any unwanted attention to herself by putting the locals on high alert.

Istas gazed up at the boys. Her eyes had softened and returned to normal as she gave a warm smile. She slowly ran her finger across Ginger-boy's forearm that was resting on the door frame.

"Look, guys. I'm sorry. It's been a really long trip and I guess I'm just a bit exhausted from it. I didn't mean to snap at you. I really could use some help in finding someplace to stay in and take a long, hot shower—maybe get a nice massage too. Do you boys think you could help?"

Sinatra-boy's face also softened as he smiled and motioned with his head for Istas to come over to his side of the car. Istas complied, slowly and seductively sauntering around the front of the vehicle. She looked at the trio through the windshield and could see that it was working. Backseat-boy and Ginger-boy were mesmerized, while Sinatra-boy was smiling approvingly. Inside, she was smiling too, though it was at the idea of how weak the male species was. She finally arrived to the driver's side and leaned over to talk with him.

"Hey, look," he said. "I'm sorry for snapping at you too. Listen, my dad owns a bed and breakfast in town. I can get you a room and food for free, if you'd like."

Istas gave an appreciative smile. "Oh, that'd be wonderful. And—," she sheepishly looked down and started caressing Sinatra-boy's chest with her finger, "—what would you like in return?"

"Oh, nothing. Just to have a drink with us and—"

Before he could finish, Istas cupped his chin with her hand and stared deeply into his eyes.

"What do you want in return?" Istas asked the driver.

"I want you to have sex with me and my friends," he plainly stated, compelled to answer under Istas' vampire influence.

"And what if I didn't want that?"

"I would have gotten you to do it."

"How?"

"I haven't decided yet."

Ginger-boy unbuckled his seatbelt and was about to reach over to force Istas to let go of his buddy. Istas immediately looked into his eyes and commanded him re-apply his seatbelt, look forward and remain silent. She did the same with Backseat-boy, and both immediately complied.

Istas looked to her left and saw how the road into Mystic Falls curved at a patch of trees.

"How old is this car?" she asked Sinatra-boy.

"My dad bought it for me last year."

"Air-bags work?"

"As far as I know."

Istas nodded. She would let Fate decide whether they lived or died. At the very least, it would look like an accident and not a preternatural occurrence if the head-on collision happened to kill any of them.

"I want you to drive straight ahead as fast as you can until you hit one of those trees in the distance. Understand?"

"Yes."

Istas stood back and watched as the driver proceeded to follow her instructions. She didn't bother to wait to see the end result, instead walking over to her motorcycle to prepare to leave and track down the doppelgangers. But before she got to her bike, the screeching sound of the car in the distance grabbed her attention. She picked up the voices in the car as they came out of their compulsion state.

"What am I doing?"

"Dude…what's going on?"

"I don't know. That crazy chick told me to drive towards those trees and I was going to do it."

"The hell? Did she drug us or something?"

"Where is she?"

Istas could see all three of them look out the rear window. The revelation suddenly fell upon her as she realized the no-magic barrier of Mystic Falls prevented her compulsion from remaining with the boys the minute they crossed the border. She cursed under her breath now that there were three loose ends that she might not be able to tie up. To make matters worse, all three stepped out of the car and began approaching her.

"HEY! COME HERE, YA PSYCHO BITCH! WE WANT TO TALK TO YOU!" yelled Sinatra-boy.

Istas had had enough headaches for one day. She reached into her side pocket and drew out two wooden _kunai_ of her own design. Roughly the size of steak knives, she placed the two blades in between the fingers of her right hand. She took two steps forward, faced her right side towards the trio, pulled her right hand back from her left shoulder and let the blades fly. It was with such power and speed that the boys, who were still a good 30 yards away, didn`t even notice the blades pass in between their legs. The sudden explosion of the car's front and rear right-side tires is what stopped their approach to Istas. Bewilderment and a tinge of fear masked their faces at the sight of two wooden blades sticking out of the tires of the car, realizing that it was Istas who put them there.

They finally looked back at Istas, who had already mounted her bike. Before she put her helmet on, she mimed a Native war cry, morphing that into a middle-fingered salute to the boys, revved her bike and drove off, annoyed that they would never know how thankful they should be to have survived their encounter with her.

 _Fallen From Grace_

Tyler stayed poised.

His knees were bent, with one hand on the ground, the other at his side.

He looked forward.

Waiting.

Waiting for the call to move.

To bolt.

To show everyone that he still had it.

The quarterback finally made the call.

They snapped the ball.

As the guards and tackle players all collided with the defensive players, Tyler started his run.

He was immediately shadowed by his assigned cornerback. As hard as Tyler tried, he couldn`t outrun him. Tyler would dodge left, then right, but his cornerback stayed with him.

Finally Tyler managed lose him briefly enough to gain some space. He looked back towards the quarterback, who was still looking for someone to pass to. The quarterback finally saw Tyler, but also saw the cornerback catching up as well. He threw the ball a few yards down. Tyler would have to race down the field in order to catch it.

As he was running, Tyler felt the football equipment on him as being so cumbersome, limiting his range of motion. The helmet was limiting his vision. The wind was pushing against him. He was swinging his arms and pushing his legs into the ground, trying his best to run on the balls of his feet to give his steps more of a spring. But the cleats were tight around his feet, and they began to feel sore. Tyler's thighs felt heavy and dead.

He looked up to see where the ball was in the air and realized that he wasn't going to be fast enough to catch it. He began to tell himself that it wasn't his fault, that the quarterback threw the ball too far for anyone to catch. But just as that thought entered his head, out of the corner of his eye he saw the cornerback who was shadowing him suddenly race past him.

The cornerback caught the ball and immediately put on the brakes. Tyler ran headlong towards him, intent on taking him down. He was pissed. This guy just showed him up and he wasn't going to get away with it.

The cornerback ran towards Tyler. As they got closer, Tyler lowered his upper body, hoping to spear-tackle the cornerback. Instead, with some deft footwork, the cornerback brushed Tyler to the side with incredible ease. Tyler stumbled to the ground. He looked up to see his teammates try and stop the cornerback from scoring a touchdown. He stopped watching and got up. He took his helmet off and threw it to the ground. He shook his head as he placed his hands to his hips. He looked up towards the afternoon sun. His breathing became hefty and rapid, but not from the exhaustion. His throat was getting choked up as he felt heaviness in his heart. His dark, brown eyes began to well up as a sense of hopelessness clouded his consciousness.

The whistle from the coach interrupted Tyler's moroseness. The practice was over. Tyler's dream of joining the Whitmore College football team seemed to die a death with his performance. Expectations were high for him. Even though he hadn't played much with the Mystic Falls Timberwolves, his teammates there remembered his speed and agility as a wide receiver. It was on their recommendation that he try his luck with the Whitmore College team. But with everything that had happened, with Klaus and then Silas and then Markos and the Travelers, Tyler was woefully out of practice. But more so than that, Tyler was no longer a hybrid. He was simply human again.

Tyler ran his hands through his short, jet black, sweaty hair before picking up his helmet and walking over to the team bench. Even though he no longer had his vampire-hearing abilities, he could still hear his teammates mumbling about his performance. At least he thought he could. He wanted to confront them, and dare them to say whatever they were thinking straight to his face. He wanted to fling all of them across the field in a show of preternatural force. He wanted to compel them all to strip naked and streak across the campus, humiliating the lot of them.

But he couldn't do any of that anymore. He was just plain, ol' Tyler Lockwood, whose werewolf gene had yet to even be activated. He was back to square one again, but things were different now.

Tyler turned to his teammates, only to see them rush off to hit the showers. Were they even talking about him? Tyler decided he didn't want to know. He left his helmet and shoulder pads on the bench, packed up his sports bag and flung it over his shoulder, opting not to take his shower with the others and instead headed off towards his dorm room to shower and sleep.

"TYLER!"

As he was walked along the secluded path that headed towards the student's residence building, he turned around to see a slender woman with long, curly blonde hair approaching him. On any other day, Tyler would've welcomed the attention of the 'creepy hot' Parker twin, Liv. But today was not one of those days. Tyler continued walking, paying no attention to Liv's continued hollering.

Liv finally caught up to him and blocked his path.

"What…did you lose your sense of hearing when you came back from the Other Side?" Liv breathlessly asked.

Tyler glared at her, looking her dead in her big blue eyes before his attention was drawn lower down. Despite his annoyance, he couldn't help but take a quick glance as her ample chest heaved mercilessly. She wore a V-neck, black and white horizontal striped shirt that made her breasts appear all the more larger than they already were. It was an attribute that he never realized he appreciated since Caroline didn't exhibit the same physical characteristics. Tyler's glance was quick before he closed his eyes, willing himself to focus on his anger rather than on his lust. He opened his eyes again and looked at Liv before continuing to walk by her.

"Whoa! Awww, dude!" Liv exclaimed as she unwittingly inhaled Tyler's body odour. "You sure as hell lost your sense of smell! Isn't it a law for football players to take a shower after practice?!"

Tyler realized that she wasn't going to give up. He stopped walking and turned back to face her.

"Is there something you want, Liv? Or are you just here to critique my hygiene?"

"Listen, I know you and your friends are depending on me and Luke to bring that Traveler spell down. But could you please tell your friends to quit pestering me about it? I've received multiple text messages from Stefan, Caroline AND Elena. Getting on my back about it isn't going to get us to bring that spell down any quicker! And it's not like I don't have other things to worry about too—like school or work. I was nice enough to create a daylight ring for your teacher friend, especially after what they did to my brother, so I think they should cut me some slack here!"

Tyler gave a soft laugh at Liv's perception of him and his so-called 'friends.' He pondered the thought for a moment. After he returned from the Other Side as a complete human, no one reached out to him to see how he was doing—to see how he was coping with his new reality, which in effect was an old reality. It seemed like no one cared. Not that they really cared before anyways. For a long time, Tyler questioned just how strong his ties to Elena and her friends really were. Of course, he cared about Caroline. He had become closer to Matt and Jeremy. But as for the Salvatore brothers, Elena and Bonnie—he really wasn't sure how he felt about them.

"I'm not their liaison, okay?" Tyler finally snapped to Liv. "If you've got a problem with them, then deal with it yourself. Quit pestering me about it and go and do something useful for a change and bring that spell down like they keep asking you to!"

Tyler scowled at Liv before turning his back on her and continuing on his way.

"Dick!" Liv chided.

Tyler stopped dead in his tracks. He hadn't been called that in a long time. Not since before his werewolf gene was activated a few years ago. He was a different person then. Indeed, he was a dick—selfish, arrogant, pretentious and quick to anger. When he became a werewolf, it was Caroline who helped him to become a better person and helped him manage that new reality. Nobody else dared to step up. She was his inspiration—his motivation. She was his motivation to break Klaus' sire bond. That's how much she meant to him.

To all of a sudden have his biggest inspiration become his biggest betrayer nearly destroyed him. For all of what Klaus had done to him, nothing he did compared to the revelation of Caroline willingly, perhaps even joyfully, having had sex with the man who had caused so much torment in Tyler's life. The thought of it still brought anguish to his heart.

Tyler's breathing became shallow and his vision became blurry as tears started welling up in his eyes. He tried desperately to hold it in—to stay strong and angry, especially in the presence of Liv. But he couldn't do it anymore. The anger wasn't enough to carry him anymore.

"Do you…know…what it's like…to have nothing…and then to have everything…and then have less than nothing? Do you? DO YOU?!"

Tyler slammed down his sports bag and turned to face Liv. Tears were cascading down his face as he was heavily exhaling his words, letting his pain and anguish flow out of him.

"I…was…a…GOD! I really was! I…I was immortal. I was powerful! SOOOO POWERFUL! I had the powers of both a werewolf AND a vampire. And yet—and yet I wasn't at the mercy of the sun or the moon! A wooden stake in the heart or silver couldn't kill me. I could walk in the sun without a daylight ring and I didn't have to endure breaking every bone in my body once a month at the sight of the full moon. I had a hot girlfriend who loved me and who I loved. I had it all!"

Tyler looked off into the distance, the tears still streaming down his face, his signature vein protruding heavily on his forehead.

"And now what do I have? My parents are dead. My uncle Mason is dead. My pack is dead. My girlfriend banged the psycho who killed my mom and my friends. And for getting mad at her I get punched in the face and am told to just 'get over it!' I lose all my powers and now—"

Tyler looked at himself and raised and dropped his arms in exasperation.

"—here I am…human again. And I don't know how to be that anymore."

He paused for a moment and looked towards the football field.

"Ya know, only a few short years ago, I was a pretty good football player. I could outrun anybody in high school and blast by any defense. I was fast and aggressive—probably the only place in the world where my aggression was an asset rather than a liability. The coach used to say that I had real potential…maybe even going pro one day! When I got my hybrid powers, I was even better. I was stronger—faster—and I didn't get tired. I was even accused of shooting steroids, but of course I wasn't. And now? I get winded so fast. The equipment feels so heavy. My legs feel like such dead weight that I feel like I'm running in slow motion. I've lost my ability to do the one thing I was always good at since I was a kid—playing football."

Tyler closed his eyes and lowered his head. He breathed in slowly—steadily—attempting to bring his sorrow under control.

"Look…I'm sorry, Liv. I-I didn't mean to lose it like that," Tyler finally said while looking up, his eyes bloodshot and his face still wet from his tears. He grabbed the bottom of his t-shirt and lifted it up to dry his eyes and face. In doing so, he inadvertently gave Liv a glimpse of his chiseled mid-section. Even though he was no longer a hybrid, he didn't lose his athletic physique, which was something Liv very much appreciated seeing manifest before her.

Tyler finished drying his tears and reached down to pick up his bag.

"I…uh…I'll see about talking to my 'friends' about leaving you alone. I can't guarantee anything, but I'll see what I can do, okay?" Tyler snivelled. He turned around and started walking away.

"Hey, Tyler!" Liv finally piped up. "If you ever…ya know…need to unwind or anything, drop by the campus bar and I can fix you up a drink. I make a killer G & T!" Liv turned sideways and was about to walk away before she turned her attention back to Tyler. "Oh, but just make sure you—ya know—take a shower and put some cologne on before you stop by, okay?"

With that, she smiled, turned around again and went on her way.

As Tyler watched her, his sorrow subsided and he began to feel slightly giddy. For the first time since returning from the Other Side, and certainly for the first time since Caroline, he began to feel good about himself and to feel a little excited for what the future might hold.

Tyler continued his walk to his dorm room when he was stopped again by someone hollering his name. He turned around to see his teammate, Malcolm, the cornerback who intercepted the ball from him during practice.

"Hey, Lockwood. Glad I found ya!"

"S'up Malcolm? Nice play out there today. You completely burned me on that interception!"

"I was surprised by that too. I remember you at MF High always being soooo fast! I didn't think I'd get by you this time around."

"Yeah…well…I guess I've lost a step since high school," Tyler nodded, the good feeling that Liv left him with rapidly fading as he was reminded of his physical regression. "So, what can I do for you?"

"Well, I was hoping to talk to you in the locker room, but you weren't there. I figured something was up with you when I beat you for that interception. Figured maybe you hadn't kept up with your 'performance enhancement' training regimen? Hmmm? Look, man, I never forgot how you helped me out during your senior year, showing me ways to improve my game. It's what helped me to get on the team here at Whitmore. And now I want to help you."

Malcolm reached into his pocket and brought out a small bottle filled with a clear liquid.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Is that—is that what I think it is?!" Tyler asked incredulously.

"Oh, c'mon Lockwood! Don't pretend like you're a stranger to this stuff. I still remember your last year at MF and all the rumours about you and drugs. No one had seen such an improvement in speed and strength like you showed without some kind of help."  
"I wasn't on steroids, Malcolm! I even passed all the tests to prove it. It was…a different training routine that I was doing back then."

"Look, whatever man. Obviously you're not doing that 'training routine' anymore. Hey, you know as well as I do how competitive college football is. This isn't high school! It's the real deal. A shot at the big leagues, know what I'm sayin'? So you need to do whatever it takes to keep up with everybody else."

Malcolm grabbed Tyler's hand and placed the bottle within it and then closed Tyler's hand up.

"Trust me, you wouldn't be the only one trying to keep that competitive edge. Listen, I gotta get to class. If you need more of this stuff, just let me know. Buuut…you didn't get this stuff from me!" Malcolm winked and then was off.

Tyler stood scrutinizing the bottle in his hands. He momentarily thought of emptying the bottle onto the grass or just throwing it out in the nearest trash can. But only for a moment. Instead, Tyler looked around to make sure no one saw the exchange between him and Malcolm, crammed the bottle into his sports bag, and continued on his way to his dorm room.

 _Altered State_

The two strolled casually to the edge of Mystic Falls, dressed as they were when they were last on the Other Side. Travelling during the night allowed them to remain undetected from the town's citizens. It was not time to reveal themselves just yet. Besides, Damon's vampire body was susceptible to the sunlight since his daylight ring was rendered ineffective thanks to the Traveler no-magic spell.

They approached the border, with Bonnie seemingly examining the architecture of the Traveler spell over the town.

"Impressive!" she said.

Damon attempted to cross the town's border, but was immediately repelled back.

"Hmmm! Just as we suspected," he said, looking up, over and around as though he could actually see the wall that kept himself and Bonnie inside Mystic Falls.

"Mystical residue left from previous spells has affected the Traveler spell," Bonnie said, touching the invisible wall, unable to put even her hand outside of the border. "Only those of 'pure' magic can exist here. So we're safe. But it means that we can't get out."

"We will break it."

"In time," Bonnie replied. "It will require that which was used to create the spell—the blood of the doppelgangers. But for now, we're stuck."

"For now. And perhaps for the best, since it also means that certain nuisances cannot get in. Besides," Damon said, turning around and facing Mystic Falls, "we have work to do here."

"For thou dost know, O Damon dear, this realm dismantled was of Jove himself— and now reigns here a very, very…pajock," Bonnie quoted, grinning at Damon as she turned around to face the town as well.

Damon chuckled.

"Indeed! Tis now the witching time of night, when churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out contagion to this world—now could I drink hot blood, and do such bitter business—" Damon quoted as he and Bonnie smiled at each other and began sauntering back towards Mystic Falls, their demon eyes glowing luminously in the dark.

"—as the day would quake to look on!"


	3. TVD S6 - Part 1 Ch3

_The Interview_

He wanted to kill her.

Or at the very least, drink until he had had his fill. If she lived or died after that, perhaps that didn't matter.

But it should have.

It should matter.

She was not food. She was a human being.

The battle against his vampire urges waged inside of Alaric as he had his interviewer pinned against the wall in her office, his stubbly face inches from the side of her neck.

It was only a half an hour before that he had walked into the Whitmore College faculty rep's office for an interview. The interviewer, a brunette woman that seemed to be around his age—late 30's or early 40's— shook his hand and welcomed him rather coldly into the room, snapped a photo of him for administrative purposes as part of the interview, and then offered him a seat to discuss Alaric's application for the vacant Occult Studies professor's position.

With the sudden and unexplained disappearances of Professor Atticus Shane, Dr. Wes Maxwell, Campus Security Head Ms. Diane Freeman, as well as the reported unexpected death of former Occult Studies professor Sheila Bennett, faculty positions at Whitmore were beginning to gain some notoriety amongst the campus staff, students and the academic community as being cursed. Occult Studies was a highly popular course with the students. But given the subject matter as well as the fates of its two previous professors, it seemed like the professor's job for Occult Studies at Whitmore was like being involved in the 1976 film production of _The Omen_ —the position was somehow hexed.

So it was with some degree of both relief and desperation that the Whitmore faculty committee accepted Alaric's application for the job, even waiving certain requirements that they would otherwise normally adhere to. On Elena's recommendation, Alaric applied for the job since he had no form of income and his teaching job at Mystic Falls was completely out of the question. And, according to Elena, what better candidate for the job of professor of Occult Studies than a former vampire hunter turned immortal vampire who once existed on the Other Side? Though his previous stint as a history teacher at Mystic Falls High School and his degree from Duke University lent credence to his application, the interviewer didn't seem as anxious as the college to hire Alaric for the position.

"—and you left your teaching job at Mystic Falls because?" asked the interviewer.

"Initially, it was a because of a family emergency. But then I decided I needed some time away so I went to study abroad," Alaric responded instantly, having rehearsed his answers before the interview.

"Family emergency? Can you be more specific?"

"Uh—well—that's a bit of a private matter. I hope you understand."

"Of course, Mr. Saltzman. I didn't mean to pry or make you uncomfortable."

"Oh, no, no. It's okay. I understand your need to know. And please, call me Ric," Alaric offered.

The interviewer's face didn't soften or change in the least. She merely scribbled down some notes and continued with the interview.

"Now Mr. Saltzman, can you explain to me how your educational background lends itself to the Occult Studies subject matter? Though I know you taught history in Mystic Falls, that doesn't necessarily equate to intimate knowledge of the occult and the paranormal. At least not enough to teach a college course on it. Professor Shane was no amateur when it came to studying and teaching on the occult and its impact on modern society, so there are some big shoes to fill. I mean…I don't think it's a great or relevant course myself, but it's a popular course and it makes the college money, so we need professors who have academic knowledge of the subject, not someone who's going to tell glorified campfire stories about ghosts and goblins."

Alaric dreaded going down this path of questioning. It was bad enough that he had to alter certain details in his curriculum vitae to make it seem like he was qualified for the position. It was bad enough that he had to compel various people to even get this far in the hiring process. But now he had to lie even further to get past this interview. He didn't want to resort to more compulsion to get the job.

"I've been involved with the occult and paranormal research for a long time. My wife was a paranormal researcher—before she died. I also studied with a professor in the occult in Budapest," Alaric replied. He figured adding a fictional education with a fictional European professor as a reference would give a sort of Old World panache to his credentials. Complete with a fake letter of reference from said Hungarian professor, Alaric had hoped that such a testimonial would be sufficient.

The interviewer's eyes lit up as a broad smile appeared on her face. "Yes, I've noticed on your CV that you studied abroad in Hungary. At the _Eötvös Loránd_ University in Budapest. Wonderful institution! I love their botanical garden. Especially the Japanese cherry blossoms. Do they still host the cherry blossom festival in July?"

Her change of attitude was disarming. Alaric had been on edge ever since her cold reception of him at the beginning of the interview. But her sudden smile and relaxed demeanor began to put him at ease as well. He beamed a smile at her, hoping to add to the sudden jovial atmosphere by playing along with her line of questioning.

"Uh, from what I remember, yeah, they still do that in July," Alaric confirmed.

"Interesting," said the interviewer, "interesting! Because cherry blossom festivals generally happen in April. So I'm curious to know what botanical garden in Budapest you visited!"

Both of their smiles disappeared almost simultaneously. Alaric knew that he had fallen for the trap the interviewer had set.

"Okay, what's going on?" he asked, leaning over and staring intently at the woman. "You've been giving me the cold-shoulder treatment ever since I first stepped into the office. Why are you being so antagonistic towards me?"

The interviewer leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "Well, I guess I don't appreciate people trying to pass themselves off as someone else, trying to land a professor's job that they don't deserve."

"Excuse me?"

"You are not Alaric Saltzman."

"What?!" Alaric scoffed. "I'm pretty sure I am."

"Well then, either you've miraculously come back from the dead or I'm sitting here talking to a ghost. Because according to my good friend, Meredith Fell, Alaric Saltzman died in Mystic Falls roughly a year and a half ago!"

Alaric's face became smooth and lost colour. He had actually inquired at the Mystic Falls Hospital about the whereabouts of Meredith, only to find that she had moved away a few months after his death. Nobody knew where she had gone.

"Wait…you know Meredith?"

"She and I were friends at Mystic Falls High. We've kept in touch ever since. She told me about meeting a guy named Alaric Saltzman. Not a very common name so it was rather easy to remember. When she later told me that he had died, sending a photo of his tombstone and everything, imagine my surprise when reading how an 'Alaric Saltzman' was applying for the professor's job here at Whitmore!"

"You went to Mystic Falls High?! Are you…are you a member of one of the Founding Families? Do you know about…ya know—?"

"No. I'm afraid I don't."

"Meredith never told you anything unusual about Mystic Falls?"

"Oh, you mean all that crap about hauntings and vampires and witches and all of that? Please, Mr. Saltzman, or whatever your name is! Only the most gullible person ever fell for that nonsense. Mere was a good friend but she sometimes shocked me with her naiveté for believing in such things."

"Where is she now?"

"Do you think I'm going to tell you?" the interviewer asked in disbelief. "No. What I'm going to do is report you to the authorities and make sure that no other institution falls for the scam that you're trying to pedal! I have your picture now, and so I'll leave it up to the police to deal with you."

The interviewer reached over to pick up her phone when Alaric reached over her desk and pressed his hand on hers, keeping the phone down.

"Wait! You don't understand," Alaric pleaded.

"What's there to understand? You're some lunatic trying to pass himself off as Alaric Saltzman. Or maybe you're the real Alaric Saltzman who faked his own death. Either way, you're scum and I'm not going to let you get away with it!"

She pulled her hand from underneath Alaric's and bolted for the door, about to scream for help to her co-workers. Alaric vamp sped to her and pushed her up against the wall, putting his hand over her mouth and compelling her to remain quiet. He turned his head, trying to pick up the sounds of anyone approaching from the outside. While he didn't hear anyone coming, he did hear the interviewer's heartbeat, pulsing rapidly as his body pressed against hers.

Alaric's own breathing became hefty and deep, increasing her sense of panic. Not since he fed on Bonnie had Alaric fed on another human being. There was a stark difference between then and now though. Back then, his "vampire hating alter ego," as Damon would call him, was fully in control. Because he was, Alaric's desire to feed on human blood was simply that—a desire, not a necessity. His dark self could control his vampire impulses because the act of feeding on a human otherwise disgusted him. Alaric's alter ego had fully intended to be like the Original family patriarch, Mikael—to feed on the blood of vampires instead of on humans.

But now, his alter ego was not in control and Alaric found himself succumbing to the turbulent, carnal, passionate lusts that came with being a vampire. He felt the warmth of her body against his, the scent of her perfume mixed with her own natural musk, the sensation of her heavy breathing as she remained motionless, too terrified to move. Alaric instinctively lowered his head to the side of her neck. He scraped his lips against the warm, soft surface of her white skin, able to feel even the smallest of sensations—the tiny hairs standing up, the quivering produced by the rest of her entire body, the alternating sensations of hot and cold sweat that her fear produced. He could feel the increased blood flow coursing through her jugular vein—like a balloon filled with water, all that was needed was a small puncture to let all that exquisite liquid to gush out, to allow him to have his fill.

Alaric was unprepared for the sensations that came with the actual hunting of a human being for sustenance. The sense of absolute domination and superiority over his victim was exhilarating. The sense that he could do whatever he wanted and with a simple look into his eyes, she would remember nothing, if he had allowed her to live. Even the terror she was experiencing only added to the thrill of it, as the rapid beating of her heart and intense breathing added an almost sexual mimicry to the encounter. He was beginning to understand why his wife, Isobel, left him all those years ago to become a vampire. He understood why Damon was as unrepentant as he was for embracing the vampire life as much as he did.

Alaric's vampire eyes emerged as his fangs protruded from his mouth. He pulled his head back and repositioned her head to better expose her neck. He was about to lunge forward and pierce her jugular when he happened to pass a glance at her face. He noticed her cheeks were wet from the tears flowing down from her horror-filled eyes. She kept looking up at him, and even though she was following his command to remain quiet, she nonetheless was sobbing as her body continued to quiver from the sheer terror of the experience. He also noticed that she kept glancing at something behind him. He turned his head to see what she kept looking at and noticed some photos propped up on her desk—photos of her husband and her two children, who looked to be younger than five years old. He looked back at her and the look in her eyes slightly changed. She kept blinking, attempting the clear the tears from her eyes. She eventually shut them tight, seemingly resigned to the awareness that she was about to die.

This is not what Alaric wanted. This isn't what he wanted at all. After Isobel left him, he dedicated his life to eliminating the monsters who made innocent people—people like this woman—feel and experience the things that he was making her feel and experience at that moment. Alaric clamped his eyes shut and breathed in deeply—slowly—attempting to get his urges under control. When he opened his eyes again, they were back to normal. With his hand, he wiped the woman's cheek dry of her tears and peered into her eyes.

"Stop being afraid. I will not hurt you. I was never here. Your interview didn't show up. You fell asleep waiting for him to show up but he never did. You will sit down at your desk and lay your head down and sleep for 10 minutes. When you awake, you will remember nothing of me or this encounter. Your interview's name was Alan Schwartzman, He was the one applying for the job but he didn't show up. If anybody asks, it was Alan Schwartzman who was applying. You never heard of Alaric Saltzman other than from Meredith. Now go to your desk and go to sleep."

The woman obeyed his compulsion and fell asleep at her desk. Alaric grabbed her phone and searched for the pictures that she took of him and promptly deleted them. He grabbed his file with all the details about himself and his application and vanished from the room in an instant.

Alaric raced to his car and began rummaging through a knapsack in the backseat. He found a flask filled with blood and frantically chugged it down. He leaned against his car, his bloodlust abated for the moment. Releasing a sigh of relief and of momentary satisfaction, Alaric felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. He opened up a text message from Elena, asking him to meet her and Jeremy near the cemetery just outside of Mystic Falls the next day.

They needed to talk about Jeremy's attitude.

 _The Dark Experiment_

Todd and Lindsey jubilantly walked out of the restaurant where they had had their first date, having extended the closing time to just before midnight. Lindsey cuddled up to her new fiancé. He had just proposed to her in the restaurant a couple of hours beforehand, giving her a beautiful diamond engagement ring that he had travelled all the way to Los Angeles to buy. Lindsey wept at the sight of the ring, touched that Todd had even remembered her off-hand comment on the beauty of the ring when she saw it in a shop on Rodeo Drive during their vacation to California last summer.

They walked under the cloudless, starry night. The supple breeze alleviated the warm atmosphere of the fading summer. The streets were barren and the town was quiet. The happy couple turned a corner, passing by the Grill that was under renovations thanks to the explosion it suffered during the summer. Both Todd and Lindsey thought of that explosion, thinking back to the strange events that led up to that moment. For a while, all seemed normal in Mystic Falls, until one day various residents, some who had been living there for years, suddenly appeared to change personalities. Todd and Lindsey even knew a couple of these people. These citizens abruptly left their homes and families and jobs and all congregated in the town square in the middle of the afternoon. They all began chanting gibberish in unison, with each citizen eventually falling dead from unknown causes. Sheriff Forbes explained that there was a major gas leak in the town square and that it affected some citizens, requiring the whole town to be evacuated to avoid any more deaths. Despite the town being empty, everyone heard reports about some madman and his girlfriend driving a car into the Grill during the night, causing an explosion that seemed to kill a bunch of out-of-towners who spontaneously showed up in Mystic Falls.

Both Todd and Lindsey knew they should have felt more shock and dismay about the events. Such happenings should have made headlines around the state, if not the country. Yet nothing was mentioned, not even in the town's local newspaper. The lifeless bodies in the town's square were mysteriously taken away with no explanations as to what they died from or what caused their sudden change in behaviour, other than the excuse of the gas leak, which hardly explained anything. No funerals were held for the deceased. No inquiries were made as to what possessed all those people to meet in the town's square and start chanting nonsense and then collapsing almost in unison. No investigations were made as to who was driving the car that ran into the Grill, or who those strange people were that came into Mystic Falls from out of nowhere and seemed to die in the explosion. It was as though a blanket of apathy was laid over Mystic Falls and everyone felt no need to question any of the bizarre events that had occurred in their sleepy little town.

It was that thought that kept swirling around in their minds when they bumped into Bonnie while turning the corner.

"Oh, sorry there, Miss. Didn't mean to bump into you," Todd apologized.

"Todd?" Bonnie asked.

"Yes."

"TODD! Todd, Todd, Toddy, Todd, Todd! How are you doing, you sexy son of a bitch?" Bonnie asked, jumping up and down and clapping her hands like a child at a carnival.

"Excuse me?!"

"Oh, don't tell me that you forgot all about me. How could you forget me? After all, you said you were tired of tasting vanilla and wanted to try some chocolate for a change. And I thought I gave you a really good sampling the other night. What's the matter, Toddy?" Bonnie ran her finger down the middle of Todd's chest. "Was I too sweet for ya?"

Bonnie took a step back and began running her hands seductively over her own body while gyrating and tracing a circle with her hips. "Was I too much for ya? Oh, you loved it, didn't you? When I did all the dirty things that this skinny, white bread chick never did for you!"

"Todd, who the hell is this woman?!" Lindsey asked, incredulously.

"I have no idea! I've never met her before in my life!"

Lindsey wedged herself in between Bonnie and Todd while Bonnie was still writhing around like a lizard. She came face to face with her, attempting to stare Bonnie down.

"Look, you whacked out crackhead skank! I don't know who the hell you are or how it is you think you know Todd, but why don't you go and crawl back under the cardboard box from which you slept under last night, or this skinny white bread chick is going to utterly toast you!"

Bonnie stopped dancing. Expressionless, she tilted her head to the side as her eyes widened. She kept blinking incessantly as she looked through Lindsey. Finally, a devilish grin flashed onto her face.

"Crackhead skank?! Do I look like a crackhead skank? Well…maybe a crackhead. But a skank? Oh, my dear Lindsey—such hypocrisy on your part!"

"Wha—how…how do you know my name?"

"Oh, we know so much about you, Lindsey!" Bonnie grabbed Lindsey's hands and held it within hers, petting them as though she were about to talk Lindsey through a traumatic ordeal. Bonnie eyes softened to match the tone of her voice. "I know that you and Todd just got engaged. Congratulations, by the way! But we do worry about your relationship with Scott now."

Lindsey aggressively pulled her hand away from Bonnie's. Todd stepped forward, his eyes narrowing as he tried to makes sense of Bonnie mentioning his older brother's name.

"What did you just say? About my brother?"

"Oops! Was that supposed to be a secret, Lindsey? Oh, me and our big crackhead mouth! Well, the cat's out of the bag now, huh? I mean, you were so enthusiastic to see him last weekend, when poor Toddy here was busy spending all that time and money to go to L.A. to buy you this gaudy diamond ring, all the while you were busy gettin' busy with Scotty the Hottie!"

Bonnie again began gyrating her hips and rubbing her hands over herself. Lindsey's hands were quivering as she raised them to cover her mouth. Todd's mouth gaped open as he kept glancing from Lindsey to Bonnie and back again.

Abruptly, Bonnie began talking again—in Lindsey's voice.

"Oh, Scott. SCOTT! I swear I'll leave Todd…I SWEAR…when he gets home, I'll leave him. He and I are SO done! Oh, Scott. Keep going. Keep going! SCOTT!"

Bonnie mimicked Lindsey's voice perfectly, so much so that Todd momentarily thought someone had recorded Lindsey and played it back with Bonnie merely mouthing the words. Lindsey took several steps back, as though Bonnie's imitation was projecting some kind of unknown force that was repelling her. She kept shaking her head as she stared at Todd, her vision becoming hazy from the tears blocking her sight and from the blood rushing away from her head.

Todd grimaced as he grabbed Lindsey's arm and pushed passed Bonnie. "Alright! I've heard enough! We're getting out of here and I think you and I have some talking to do!"

He briefly looked back at Bonnie and immediately stopped walking, startled by what he saw. Lindsey turned around too, halting and gasping in fear at Bonnie's shimmering golden eyes. The center of her eyes was a dark slit halloed by a circle of blood red. Both her eyes were framed in a mask of black veins.

Todd gripped Lindsey and backed them both away from a grinning Bonnie, who was slowly walking towards them. Todd turned around and ran into a grinning Damon, whose demon eyes were shining bright like Bonnie's. The difference with Damon though—he had razor sharp fangs jutting from his mouth.

"Oh, Todd! Listen! If anyone around here knows a thing or two about bangin' his brother's girlfriend, it's me! So trust us when we say—it probably wasn't your fault. The girls, they always go for the bad brother. We're just so much more exciting than the good brother. Am I right, Lindsey?"

Damon lunged at Todd and stabbed his teeth into Todd's neck. A stream of blood spewed out into Damon's open mouth. Damon clamped his lips over the gushing wound, and then made more puncture wounds to increase the blood flow. Todd's bewildered eyes were soon blinking rapidly as the tears of pain filled them. He slowly fell to the ground with Damon still clamped onto his neck.

Lindsey began shrieking when Bonnie's index and middle fingers touched her forehead.

"Shhhhh," commanded Bonnie. Lindsey immediately fell unconscious to the ground.

Bonnie looked over at Damon feeding on Todd.

"Hey—Hey!—HEY!" Bonnie hollered. When Damon didn't respond and continued feeding, Bonnie pointed her hand at him and telekinetically lifted him off of Todd and sent him hurdling against a light post across the street.

Damon's back and head slammed against the post, almost knocking him unconscious. He got up, with copious amounts of Todd's blood dripping from his mouth, snarling at Bonnie who stood between him and Todd.

"We're supposed to keep them both alive, remember? Now let's get this over with. We don't have a lot of time."

Damon walked over and hoisted Lindsey over his shoulder and then grabbed Todd's leg. He and Bonnie walked over to the alley behind the Grill where a large power generator was still running that was being used to power various equipment, while a massive dumpster had been set up to place all the refuse from the Grill's reconstruction.

Damon dropped Lindsey and then let go of Todd's leg. He bit into his own wrist and fed his blood to a barely conscious Todd, and then to Lindsey. When he was sure that she had ingested his blood, he snapped her neck, hoping that when she woke up a new vampire, she had a fully healed Todd to feed on. Bonnie jumped up onto a stair railing nearby. She balanced herself on the bar, observing Damon as he completed his tasks. Damon ripped off a piece of Todd's shirt, wiped his mouth and then eventually joined Bonnie on the railing. They sat perched on the narrow beam, looking like two birds sitting on a wire. Neither made any sound or any movement. Both looked forward, their eyes half open, as though they were in some kind of meditative state.

An hour passed before Damon's attention turned towards Todd's corpse. Damon descended from the railing and went over, bent down and peered into Todd's face. Damon's head moved in a staccato, bird-like motion rather than in a more fluid, human motion. When he was done looking at his face, Damon straightened up and then kicked Todd's lifeless corpse against the brick wall.

"He's dead," Bonnie droned.

"Why?! Why didn't the blood heal him?!"

Bonnie jumped down and went over to look at Lindsey's corpse, moving her head in the same manner that Damon did. She finally looked up and sighed.

"The Traveler spell," Bonnie lamented.

"It cancels witch magic."

"As soon as your vampire blood left Damon's body, the Traveler spell immediately made it ineffective. Poor Lindsey here will not be joining us, apparently."

Damon ran his fingers through his hair as he muttered indecipherable words under his breath.

"We need to bring the spell down now!" Bonnie cried.

"It would be foolish to reveal ourselves before our plan is in motion."

"The spell prevents vampirism from occurring. While the spell is up, the only way vampire blood will be effective is if—"

"—is if the body is already possessed and protected of us." Damon punched a hole in the brick wall. "That could take MONTHS! Even years! Even those of the Other Side are being more obstinate to yield control than we anticipated. We cannot possibly wait that long to possess a human body, let alone several!"

Bonnie extended her hand out, her palm facing downward. She closed her eyes and tried to feel for dark energy in the atmosphere. Her eyes flashed open as a leer appeared on her face.

"The Expression Triangle. That may be our—salvation!" Bonnie began wildly laughing and then instantaneously stopped and became stone faced, as though she hadn't been laughing at all mere seconds beforehand. "Grab these bodies and throw them away. We're done with them. We've got some investigating to do before sunrise."

Damon complied and effortlessly tossed both bodies into the dumpster. He grabbed some cardboard boxes and other trash laying around and threw them on top of the bodies.

"Let us hope that our next destination is quieter than this one. That generator's buzzing is rather annoying," Damon grumbled.

As they both began walking away, Damon stopped and swiftly turned around. He kept scanning the alley, trying to pick up the origins of the sound that he just heard. His eyes zeroed in on a rat emerging from one of the trash cans against the wall. The rat scurried over to the pool of Todd's blood that was left on the pavement.

"Heh, heh! A creature after our own heart!" Damon sneered.

He and Bonnie continued on their way out of the alley.

Matt waited another 15 minutes after he saw Damon and Bonnie disappear before opening the back door of the Grill that led into the alley. He was breathing heavily and his heartbeat was slowly returning to normal, his extremities tingling from going numb. He held his breath for a time after accidentally knocking down a plank of wood, certain that Damon was going to discover him spying on them. Thankfully, the rat's presence covered Matt's clumsiness. He walked out into the alley and knelt down to where Todd's body had lain. Matt waved away the rats that were congregating near the blood and picked up the ripped cloth that Damon had used to wipe his mouth. He turned his attention to his phone to see the pic that he took through the crack in the boarded up window from which he was peering through. His fingers kept hitting the wrong app—his hands were shaking so much—that it took some time. He was trying to do it as quickly as possible since the batteries on his phone were dying fast.

He finally saw the picture, and while it wasn't the clearest picture he'd ever taken, he hoped it would be enough to convince Elena and the others of what he had just seen. As he started to started text Elena, his phone finally died. He cursed out loud but was thankful that he snapped the photo in time. He'd have to recharge his phone before he could text anyone. It was just as well since no one was probably up at that hour. But he knew he had to report what he saw as quickly as possible.

There was something terribly wrong with Bonnie and Damon.


	4. TVD S6 - Part 1 Ch4

_The Road Home_

The tense silence filled the entire car.

Caroline, Elena and Abby had spent the night at Bruce and Vivien's after Abby's arrival. Over dinner, Elena and Caroline recounted the events that led to Bonnie becoming the Anchor to the Other Side and then becoming stuck there during its collapse. Breaking down into tears over hearing the news, Abby barely touched her dinner or breakfast the next morning. Vivien suggested Abby accompany the girls back to Mystic Falls to help in the investigation. Otherwise, waiting around for news of her daughter's fate might create unending anxiety and frustration that could send Abby over the edge, the consequences of which no one wanted to see.

Elena began the car ride trying to small talk with Abby, asking her what she had been up to since they had last seen her. But Abby simply gave monotone, one word answers like "nothing" and "stuff." Caroline asked if Abby wanted to listen to anything in particular on the radio, but Abby left the decision with the girls. Numerous times over the last hour, Caroline kept reaching for the radio, intending to turn it on and set it to any station or play some MP3's that she and Elena would like to listen to, but always changing her mind. She would constantly glance up into the rear view mirror at Abby, not wanting to disrupt her quiet mood, watching her staring blankly out the window lost in her world of guilt and grief. The rumble of the engine, the thumps on the road, the rushing of the wind passing by the open driver and passenger windows were the only noises the trio heard for over an hour.

Caroline kept gripping and rubbing the steering wheel while incessantly tapping her left foot, the sound of which began distracting Elena as she stared out her open window. Changing her glances from the road to the rear view mirror and back again, she was trying to think of something relevant to talk about to kill the monotonous, soundless atmosphere in the car. Her eyes widened and a grin appeared on her face as she finally thought of something to talk about.

"Uh…Abby, I was wondering if you'd mind answering something for me," Caroline said. "I mean, seeing as how you're a witch—I mean, you were a witch—I mean—"

Caroline gripped the wheel again, tapping her foot even faster than before. She finally glanced up into the rear view mirror and sheepishly smiled.

"Heh, heh—*ahem*—I mean, since you know about magic—," she continued, "—um…could you explain what the difference is between pure magic and spirit magic? The Travelers said that they only practiced 'pure magic' and I was wondering what the difference was and why we can't get into Mystic Falls."

"Pffft! Pure magic!" Abby scoffed while still staring out her window.

Caroline and Elena glanced at each other momentarily.

"Magic is magic," Abby explained finally. "It just depends on the source and how one draws on that source. Most witches draw upon Nature for their magic, whether it's from the Earth or a celestial object. Some say it's drawing upon the spirit of Nature. That's why sometimes it's called spirit magic, although that mainly applied to drawing through the spirits on the Other Side."

"And what if you don't draw upon Nature?" Elena asked.

"Necromancers draw from the dead. So do those who practice Ancestral magic. Sacrificial magic draws from the sacrificing of animals or supernatural creatures. So there are other sources and other ways to draw from a source. Then you have the Travelers and their so-called 'pure magic'—magic whose source and avenue are…questionable."

"I…I don't understand," Caroline replied.

"There are only so many paths and sources that a witch can draw upon for magic. What the Travelers draw upon and how they do it, they consider it as drawing upon the Earth's purest magic. But some in the witching community call the way they do it as drawing through pure darkness. Others even call it satanic. Whatever it is, it's certainly not good."

"You mean to tell me that the Travelers were practicing some kind of black magic?" Elena asked, turning around in her seat to face Abby.

"In a way."

"But, why does the spell in Mystic Falls affect vampires? Weren't vampires created with black magic?" asked Caroline.

Abby solemnly lowered her eyes. Her regression from a servant of Nature to a mere human to a creature of darkness was still a difficult reality. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply.

"Vampires were created using witch or spirit magic along with dark magic," Abby finally confirmed. "The vampire spell was neither purely dark nor purely natural. The magic that created you—," Abby closed her eyes again and cleared her throat, "—that created us, is a mixture. Therefore, vampires cannot exist under the Traveler spell."

Elena pondered the information for a moment. She stared blankly out her window, trying to come up with some loophole now that she was getting a better understanding of the magic that was involved.

"What kind of magic can be performed in Mystic Falls then?" Elena asked. "If Traveler magic is a form of black magic, could other black magic be performed there too?"

"Hypothetically, I suppose so. Any unconventional magic that runs along the same avenue of darkness that the Traveler's own magic supposedly runs on could possibly work. Even that garbage that your Professor Shane tried to teach Bonnie once might also work."

Elena's eyes enlarged. "Expression?! Expression might work there? So…maybe we can find someone who practices Expression to help bring the spell down."

Abby leaned forward between the front seats and quizzically looked at her as though Elena had lost her mind.

"Elena! There is a reason why a curse was placed on the Travelers—why Nature itself was used to keep the Travelers from congregating and practicing their magic for 2,000 years! There is a reason why Expression is utterly condemned by witches. Because that kind of magic is extremely dangerous and the consequences of using it could be devastating."

Abby slumped back in her seat and stared out the window. Shaking her head, she continued. "I'm actually surprised that nothing further happened when Bonnie used that filth. Dealing with dark forces like that…it can be catastrophic, beyond just suffering death. I guess Bonnie got lucky."

"But—" Elena started before briefly catching a glimpse of Caroline, whose glare told her to leave well enough alone.

The trio sat silent for a few minutes before Elena's phone started buzzing. It was a text message from Matt.

"Matt says he needs to see me and Stefan as soon as possible. I wonder if he discovered something about the spell," Elena reported.

"Did you text Jeremy?" asked Caroline.

"Yeah, also Alaric. They said they'd meet me near the cemetery outside of the town's border later this afternoon, once we get back. After Alaric texted me about Jeremy walking out on him, I figured the three of us needed to get together to talk about Jeremy's attitude. I'll have Matt meet us there as well. Maybe he can talk some sense into Jeremy." Elena leaned back into her seat and stared up into the car's ceiling. "—*sigh*—its times like this that I wish my parents were still around, then I wouldn't have to bother with all this raising-a-teenager stuff. A part of me just wants to go away and leave Jeremy with Alaric and not worry about being a responsible adult for a while."

In unison, Caroline and Elena shut their eyes and pursed their lips. Caroline wanted to apologize on Elena's behalf, saying that she didn't mean anything by her comment, but she knew it wasn't her place. Elena wanted to apologize to Abby too, but the damage was done. Elena knew that an apology would not suffice. And yet, for a brief moment, Elena also didn't care.

 _Why do I have to apologize for anything? Abby's the one who left Bonnie…twice! It's not like it wasn't her decision or anything. Poor Bonnie grew up without a mother and that's Abby's fault. She was a bad mother! Why do I have to feel guilty for anything?_

Elena glanced at Abby through her peripheral vision, noting that Abby hadn't turned her gaze away from the window or made any kind of reaction to Elena's comment. She turned away from Abby and back to looking out her own window. A slight smirk appeared on her face as the satisfaction of knowing she put Abby in her place filled Elena with minor exuberance.

As the car travelled further up the road, Caroline could see a tall, lean male brunette, dressed in a white t-shirt and blue jeans, extending his hand out, hitchhiking for a ride.

"Ooooo—check out the hot hitchhiker!" Caroline mused.

"Should we pick him up?" Elena mockingly asked.

"Why not? Maybe we can have some fun with him!" Caroline giggled.

The car pulled up to the hitchhiker as Abby perplexingly analysed the scene happening before her. She didn't peg Elena and Caroline as the types to pick up a male hitchhiker to use 'for fun.' She was concerned that perhaps the girl's vampire natures had grown more vicious since she last saw them. She wondered how much they had changed. Her fears dissipated somewhat as she got a better look at the hitchhiker.

"Hey! I was wondering if you ladies would mind giving a down-on-his-luck high school student a ride," said the hitchhiker, leaning on the front passenger side window.

"Down-on-his-luck, huh? Well, rides in this car aren't free, buddy! If you don't have any money, maybe we can think of some other kind of arrangement," Caroline said, winking.

"Heh…heh…well, I—Abby!" Stefan stammered upon noticing Abby sitting in the back seat. "Hi! Uh…this…this is unexpected."

Abby glanced at Stefan and nodded a greeting.

"Yeah…uh…it's a bit of a long story. Get in and we can tell you all about it," Elena directed.

Abby shifted to the left side of the car behind Caroline while Stefan occupied the right side. As the car drove off, Elena turned in her seat to address Stefan.

"So, what happened with those former Travelers you were going to see? Did you meet them? Did they know anything about the spell that could help us?" she inquired.

"Uh…no…no," Stefan muttered. "They said that they were too much out of the Traveler loop to know anything about the spell or how to disable it. They…weren't big on talking to me."

"Well, we were talking with Abby about the magic that the Travelers used. There might be hope that we can use some other form of magic to bring the spell down," Elena explained. Abby glared at her momentarily, her eyes sending beams of disapproval towards Elena.

Elena, oblivious to Abby's stare, continued with Stefan. "We might need to see that Traveler couple. Maybe they know of some other kind of magic that could help. Do you think they'd be willing to do that?"

Stefan's gazed switched from Elena to the car floor. He shifted in his seat, trying to get comfortable amidst Elena's questioning.

"I…uh…I don't think we can depend on them to help us. They—they didn't seem too keen on having anything to do with the Travelers or with vampires. They really just want to be left alone and I think we should respect that."

Elena's lips flattened in disappointment as she turned around and faced forward in her seat.

Stefan glanced out the window, but was still feeling a pair of eyes on him. He instinctively looked up into the rear view mirror to see Caroline's eyes glaring back at him. She held his gaze for a few seconds, slowly blinked and then returned her gaze back to the road.

"By the way, Matt wants to see us," Elena told Stefan.

"What for?"

"I don't know, but it sounded important."

"Well," Caroline interjected. "I figured since Elena has to meet up with Jeremy and Alaric, I'll drop her off close to the cemetery, while the rest of us will go and meet my mom at the town border. I talked with her last night and she said that she'd drop by Miss Sheila's house and pick up a few things for Abby. After that, we can go by the cemetery and meet up with everybody else and see what Matt has to report."

"Sounds like a plan," Elena said approvingly. "Maybe we can get in touch with Liv afterwards. She's been ignoring my text messages. Either she's hasn't found anything yet or she's given up on helping us. Either way, her and her brother are the only witches that we know of that can possibly help us now. I'm hoping we don't have to coerce them again."

"Like killing Luke and sending him to the Other Side?" asked Caroline.

"That was your call," Elena retorted.

"I know, I know. But it worked, didn't it?"

"I guess. I'm surprised they even stuck around Whitmore and agreed to help us some more."

"Why wouldn't they? We're awesome, right?" giggled Caroline.

"Sure we are!" smiled Elena.

As the two girls bantered back and forth, Abby glanced at each of them in the car one more time.

They had changed.

 _Confrontations_

Elena stood, facing the gravestones of her parents.

While clutching onto the necklace that Damon had given her when Stefan had gone Ripper, the necklace that helped to turn the tides of her feelings away from Stefan and towards Damon, Elena placed a rose in front of each gravestone. One for her father and one for her mother.

"You wouldn't have liked him, would you?" she asked the two stones. "Hmpfh! You probably wouldn't have liked Stefan either. But somehow I think you would've preferred him over Damon. I know you would've flipped out over Damon trying to kill Jeremy…twice! And maybe rightfully so. But if you only knew him like I knew him. If only you could see the good man that was underneath the rebel exterior. Heh! I think of all the people in this world that I would've had nuclear fights about him with, it would've been you two. But I'd give anything to have those nuclear fights. I'd give anything to have him and you guys here with me now."

The crackling of leaves and twigs proclaimed Jeremy's arrival. Elena turned her attention to him, crossed her arms and sternly glared at him as he made his way into the cemetery.

"Well, gee…thanks for coming here so quickly. It's only been over an hour since Caroline dropped me off here!"

Jeremy shrugged. "I was playing a video game and wanted to finish it."

"A video game?! THAT'S your excuse?!"

"What's your problem, Elena?"

"My prob—," Elena sputtered. "My problem is your attitude! Alaric told me that you abandoned your training with him?"

"Yeah…and? Look, what difference does it make? There are no vampires in Mystic Falls. And besides, Matt seems to be better at it than I am. So Alaric can go and train him and leave me alone."

"Matt isn't supernaturally blessed with Hunter skills. You are! You've been given a gift and—"

"Oh, please! Matt has already given this lecture. I suppose you're gonna point out that Bonnie would be disappointed in me too, huh?"

"Knowing her as I do, she would be. But not just her. Them too," Elena said, pointing to the two gravestones. "They were once vampire hunters too. They would be so disappointed in seeing you give up on something that they dedicated their lives to—disappointed in seeing you use excuse after excuse to do nothing with your life!"

"Wow! That's real low, Elena. But, okay. You want to talk about mom and dad being disappointed? How disappointed do you think they'd be about you and Damon?"

"Don't start with that!"

"Oh, what's the matter? The lecturer doesn't like being lectured? You know damn well they'd disown you for falling in love with the kind of monsters they were trying to kill, if not for becoming one yourself!"

"Damon is not a monster and neither am I."

"Damon tried to kill me, TWICE! He snapped Alaric's neck. He practically raped Caroline. He—"

"He did not rape Caroline!"

"Well, he certainly didn't take her out to dinner and a movie! After everything he's done, I don't get why you still try to defend him."

Elena breathed in deeply as she ran her hands through her hair. "Maybe…maybe because I see the good in him and feel he deserves a second chance. Just like Bonnie gave you a second chance after you cheated on her with Anna!"

Jeremy sneered and turned away, shaking his head.

"Oh, what's the matter, Jer? Too low?"

"Bonnie overlooking me kissing Anna and you overlooking every despicable act that Damon has done is not the same thing and you know it!"

"It is the same thing! We've all committed horrible crimes, Jer. I've killed people. Stefan's killed people. Caroline and Alaric have killed people. And so has Damon. None of us are perfect and that's the point. Each of us has been through so much—we've endured and caused so much grief and yet we're still here. We endure, we learn and we deal with it all and move on. That's what I've done and that's what you should be doing. But you aren't."

"Just deal with it, huh? Ya know…that's exactly what Damon told me after he tried to kill me. You're beginning to sound more and more like him each day."

Elena shrugged. "Maybe that's not such a bad thing."

Jeremy shook his head again and turned slightly away from her. "There was a time when family came first for you. Especially before someone like Damon. There was a time when you never would've been proud to be like him. But ya know…I take it back. You're not like Damon at all. In fact, you remind more of Katherine!"

Elena walked towards Jeremy and attempted a slap him across the face. Jeremy instinctively moved his head back and caught her hand and smirked.

"Should have tried it at vampire speed," he advised.

"I would've taken your head off if I did that!"

Throwing her hand down, Jeremy attempted to brush past her. "Like I said…like Katherine."

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked, pushing him back.

"I've got a video game to go finish."

"We're not done here. We're waiting for Alaric and then we're settling this."

"It's already settled! I'm done with the training and I'm done with the lectures. Now let me through!"

Elena pushed him back again. "I said no!"

"Don't do this Elena!"

"Or what? What are you going to do, Hunter? You're not good enough to beat me!"

Staring directly into Elena's eyes, Jeremy reached behind his back. Elena smiled as she knew what he was reaching for.

"Alaric's gun? Really, Jer?"

"I was going to return it to him later today."

"And what? Now you're going to use it on me?"

"Just let me go home."

"I said no! But go ahead and whip the gun out, for whatever good it will do you. You still won't get past me."

The distant rustling of leaves and branches disrupted the violent tension between the two. Elena turned her head to the side as her vampire hearing picked up the sound of a visitor approaching.

"Or should I say, past us? Sounds like Alaric's here."

Elena turned around and was surprised to see a slender, athletic young woman wading through the trees and branches of the forest surrounding the cemetery. The woman finally arrived to where Elena and Jeremy were and scrutinized them briefly before she spoke.

"Hi! I…uh…I was looking for Elena and Jeremy Gilbert?" the woman softly asked.

Jeremy ambled and stood beside Elena as she glared at him momentarily before turning her attention to the stranger.

"That's us. What can we do for you?" responded Elena.

Grinning, Istas rapidly pulled out her gun and pointed it at the Gilbert siblings. "You can go ahead and die for me!"

 _Off The Wagon_

"Abby! It's so good to see you again. It's been far too long," Sheriff Liz greeted as she hugged Abby while both stood near the border to Mystic Falls.

"Still trying to keep law and order in the town, eh Liz?"

"Well, it's not easy. I don't know many sheriffs who have to deal with the supernatural on top of ordinary citizens running amok. How have you been doing? With the transformation and all of that?"

Abby sighed and pressed her lips. "It's been a learning curve, that's for sure. Unfortunately, when you make a mistake, sometimes it can mean life or death for someone. I'm definitely not comfortable with that!"

Stefan and Caroline leaned on the side of the car a bit of a distance away, eavesdropping on the conversation between Liz and Abby.

"It seems like you're not the only one having trouble with blood lust," Caroline murmured to Stefan.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Caroline turned to look at him. "What happened between you and the Traveler couple?"

"Nothing," Stefan replied, shrugging.

"C'mon Stefan! It's me you're talking to, remember? The minute you told Elena that lie in the car, I knew something was up. Maybe she can't pick up on that anymore, but I can. Now what happened?"

"Caroline, I told you. Nothi—"

As soon as Stefan looked into Caroline's stern face, he knew she wasn't buying what he was selling. He pushed himself off of the car and walked a distance away from Caroline, cupping his face in his hands and then running his hands through his hair.

"I killed them."

"Why? What happened?" asked Caroline, disturbed.

"I was trying to get some answers out of them. The husband was being uncooperative but the wife was willing to help. I guess I was being a bit too aggressive so the husband attacked me. He got cut in the process and that's when I lost it. I smelled his blood and it was just—it was just too much. I killed them and tried to burn the bodies, but then their children and grandchildren showed up."

"Their grandchildren showed up? Did you kill them too?!" Caroline asked worryingly.

"No. I quickly compelled each of them to fall asleep and moved them a safe distance from the house. I made it look like a gas leak in the kitchen caught fire and burned the house down with the grandparents inside. I woke the family up and compelled them all to remember the house exploding when they arrived that knocked them all unconscious, and then once again compelled them into sleep on the front lawn. I called the fire department and waited to make sure they got there in time to keep the family from being harmed by the burning house before I disappeared. It was the only thing I could think of to spare the family from knowing the truth."

"Why were you trying to hide this from me?"

Stefan sighed heavily while looking at the setting sun. "I don't know, Caroline. I think…I think it's because I wanted you to think…I wanted everyone to think that I had a handle on this Ripper thing. But I don't. I never truly do. With Lexi, I'd go through periods where I have it licked and I can handle being in the presence of human blood and it won't affect me. But then, it's like out of nowhere, the urge becomes so strong, and I fall off the wagon. It's a struggle that just never seems to end."

"You're a recovering addict, Stefan. I don't think you should ever expect the struggle to end. I certainly don't. That's why I'm here to help you. But I can't help you if you keep moments where you fall like this from me."

Stefan stood silent for a moment. He lowered his head and closed his eyes. He finally lifted his head up and sheepishly looked over at Caroline. "I didn't want you to be disappointed in me."

Caroline walked over to Stefan and hugged him. The two stood quiet for a moment, their eyes closed and locked in their embrace. Caroline finally spoke into Stefan's ear. "As long as you keep trying and keep fighting Stefan, you'll never disappoint me. Lexi was there for you until the very end. And I will be too!"

She pulled back and stared into Stefan's eyes. She put her hand to his cheek and smiled proudly at him.

"—*ahem*—Sorry to interrupt," Liz said, smiling approvingly at seeing Stefan and Caroline embrace, "but I have to ask you two something. I just got a call from one of my deputies. The renovation crew at The Grill found two dead bodies in their dumpster in the alley this afternoon. EMT's on the scene described a male and a female as the victims. The male victim's throat looked to be ripped open by several puncture wounds as though by some kind of animal, and he seems to have suffered some severe blood loss. The female victim appears to have had her neck snapped. Both had blood smeared across their mouths. Officers on the scene discovered more blood on some walls and on the street leading into the alley. Tests will have to be done to see if all the blood comes from the victims or not. But from what my deputy is telling me, it sounds like—"

"It sounds like a vampire attack," Stefan said.

"But, that's impossible. Vampires can't exist in Mystic Falls anymore," Caroline said.

"Are you sure that's still the case?" asked Liz.

Caroline vamp sped to the edge of the town's border. She placed her hand with the daylight ring across into Mystic Falls and her hand immediately began to sizzle and erupt into flames. She withdrew her hand and began shaking it to douse out the flames.

"The spell is definitely still up," Stefan replied.

"Then who or what killed those two people?" asked Abby.

"Wait…isn't Matt working as part of the renovation crew?" Stefan wondered.

"I think so. Why?" replied Liz.

"He sent a text message to Elena this morning saying he needed to see her and myself as soon as possible. Maybe he knows something about this."

"Well, if he saw something, I don't know why he wouldn't tell me about it first," replied Liz. "Can you tell him to get in touch with me?"

"We're actually meeting him over at the cemetery," replied Caroline. "Elena's meeting with Jeremy and Alaric and she sent a text to Matt to meet her there too. We're heading that way now so we'll ask him if knows anything about this."

"If he does, let me know. I'm heading over to The Grill to investigate this further."

Liz gave each of them a hug and then got into her car and left.

"That's really weird about those two dead bodies. Who or what do you think could have done this?" asked Caroline as the three of them all got into the car.

"I don't know. I just hope there's a human explanation behind it," replied Stefan. "I think we've all endured enough supernatural chaos to last us for a while!"

 _Under Control_

Darkness engulfed her.

It was as though a black sack was placed over head. She blinked, or at least she thought she blinked. But instead of seeing light alternating with dark, it was dark alternating with dark, causing doubt in Bonnie whether her eyes were even open, whether she was awake or still dreaming, alive or dead.

And yet in the midst of the darkness, the images kept flashing before her.

Thoughts.

Memories.

Dreams.

Phantasmagorias.

She wasn't sure what those images were. She tried to focus on them but couldn't. It was like driving down a hot, sun baked highway where you can see the heat emanating from the road and surrounding landscape which makes a mirage appear and then disappears as you get closer, making wonder you if you had even seen it at all. It left Bonnie frustrated because the images were still ever present, on the periphery of her focus, taunting and challenging her to concentrate on them, only to disappear when she did.

The sensations that the images brought were familiar and yet foreign. She kept feeling like they were of her experiences in Mystic Falls—local landmarks, familiar streets, recognizable buildings. And yet they weren't like the experiences that she had had before. When she recalled real experiences from her past and compared them with the feelings she was getting from these—pictures—in her head, there were distinct sensations that these new 'memories' held that she did not hold with her previous ones.

Hatred.

Malevolence.

Domination.

Death.

It was as though someone had taken video footage of Mystic Falls through her eyes and ran them through filters that had those names. Those images made her feel vile and tainted, the same as she felt while under the influence of Silas and Expression magic, only multiple times worse.

Yet, at the same time, she felt something else—something seemingly at the other end of the spectrum. It too mirrored her experience with Expression magic. Surges of different sensations descended upon her. They were joyful—ecstatic—orgasmic. Wave after wave of electrical jolts of pleasure coursed throughout her body. Seemingly, in those moments when the images of her other 'self' using magic popped up, that's when such sensations visited themselves upon her—unwelcomingly. Unlike with Expression, where she willingly gave herself over to the rapture that came with performing Expression, here it was different. She felt like she was forced to enjoy it. Though she had never taken drugs, it was like someone had strapped her down and jabbed a heroin needle into her arm, forcing her into a state of euphoria that she had never asked for. Her soul and body were being used in a way that she had not consented to, and her rapist plunged her into corrupted orgasm as a means to make up for it, to get her to cease her struggle and accept their violation.

As she stirred in the darkness, she opened her eyelids again, and found herself squinting from the sudden presence of light. She tried to turn her head, but found she could only move it ever so slightly. She blinked several times, trying to adjust to the intensity of shifting from complete darkness to bright ambiance. Once her eyes got adjusted, her heart sank at the sight before her.

Mirrors—in every direction.

She became overwhelmed with panic and fright as she realized that she was not in some dream. It was real. Her encounter with the beings that called themselves the Sovereignty really happened, and that they really did do all the things to her that she remembered. She was lying with her back on the floor, her eyes darting from side to side as she tried to get up, but felt the effort an exhausting exercise in futility. It was as though someone had upped the gravity in the room, keeping her pinned down to the floor. She could wiggle her toes and fingers, so she wasn't paralyzed. That thought brought some small relief, yet she sorrowed at the reality that she still was immobile.

As she sighed and stared towards the mirror ceiling, she noticed something unexpected. Next to her naked form lay someone else. She squinted, trying to bring into focus the face of the person without spinning into vertigo because of the endless reflections the mirrors were making. Her eyes widened as she recognized the person beside her. She tried to turn her head to the left, succeeding only partially, her eyes reaching the extreme limit that her eye socket would allow in order to get a better view of the last person she'd ever expect to see.

"Damon?!" she queried, her voice a mixture of both shock and jubilance at seeing someone she knew.

"Hey Bon Bon." His voice was nonchalant, like they had just casually bumped into each other at the Grill on a Friday night. Damon looked as if he were half asleep, his eye lids heavy and half closed.

"Damon? Is that really you?"

"Do you know anyone else with this face and this bod who looks this good in his birthday suit?"

Bonnie took a brief look towards Damon's crotch in the mirror and quickly turned her gaze away, whether out of embarrassment that he was naked before her, or because she was curious enough to look at all, she couldn't tell.

"Hey, it's okay to look, Bon Bon. I've been admiring the view for some time now myself."

Bonnie desperately tried to lift her arms up to cover herself, but it was no use. She relaxed her body in resigned frustration, realizing that the damage was done and she was in fact lying naked next to the last person she would ever want to lie next to naked.

"It's you alright. No doubt about that!" Bonnie lowered her eyes, attempting to avoid any and all views of Damon within the reflections of the mirrors.

"You sound disappointed. You were expecting someone else?"

"I'm not disappointed, Damon. I'm actually kind of relieved to see you. And yes…I was expecting someone else."

"Who?"

Bonnie closed her eyes and swallowed, attempting to stifle the fear and dread in her voice. "Someone…something else."

"The Sovereignty?"

Bonnie's eyes expanded as they targeted Damon's face in the ceiling mirror. "You too?!"

"Yeah." His tone was still casual.

"Who did they appear as to you?"

Damon sighed heavily. "First Katherine. Then Elena. Then Stefan. What about you?"

Bonnie sighed too and peered downwards. "My Grams. What did they do to you afterwards?"

"I'd rather not talk about it." His usual swagger and confidence was non-existent as Damon tried to turn his gaze away as best he could, experiencing the same limitations in movement as Bonnie did.

If his experiences were as disturbing as hers, but so profound in its impact that he couldn't smirk or shrug his way through describing them, then it must have been traumatic indeed. Unlike Elena, whose feelings for Damon caused her to feel pity and come to his defense, whether he deserved it or not, Bonnie felt like Damon was finally paying for his sins. A slight grin of gratification crept onto her face, disappearing instantaneously once guilt began clouding her conscience.

"Who are they Bonnie?" Damon asked, breaking her emotional combat.

"I don't know."

"Don't you?"

Bonnie's eyebrows creased. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"They told me that I was chosen because I took part in the completion of an Expression Triangle spell and—"

"What?! When did you do that?"

"Do you mind? I'm talking here. And what difference does it make? It was a long time ago. What I'm getting at is that Expression stuff is Silas territory. And since you and he were rather intimate—"

"We weren't intimate, Damon!" Bonnie retorted. "He tricked me! And let's not move so quickly from your part in all of this. Why were you involved in an Expression Triangle?"

Damon rolled his eyes and sighed. "I killed twelve humans for a witch in New Orleans so I could break a sire bond with someone. I didn't know what the hell she was talking about. She told me that once I killed the twelve people, the sire bond would break. Needless to say, it didn't work."

"Big surprise!"

"I know! Witches, right?"

Bonnie shook her head as best she could in frustration. "I'm not critiquing the witch. You killed twelve innocent people for some selfish reason. Will wonders never cease?"

"Oh, hello Miss Pot! Kill a dozen witches lately?"

"I didn't kill the witches. Caroline did accidentally while trying to save me. The witches were trying to purge Expression from me."

"Pfft! A convenient excuse," Damon said, staring harshly at Bonnie in the mirror. "Silas had you in his corner and wanted that Triangle finished. You knew full well what bringing twelve witches to purge Expression from you was going to lead to. You wanted it to end that way."

"I was being manipulated, Damon!"

"So was I, Bonnie!"

Both stayed quiet for a time, their gaze turned away from each other, both realizing they had reached a stalemate in their argument. Bonnie thought about the Triangle connection, and finally piped up while still staring away from Damon. "I don't think Silas or any witch has anything to do with this."

"Why do you say that?"

"Do they seem human to you? The Sovereignty?"

Damon's eyes narrowed, seemingly contemplating the fact that he hadn't noticed before. "Are you sure?"

"No. But having dealt with the worst of the worst, whether it was Katherine or Klaus, I could still sense humanity in them. Even when Elena had her humanity turned off, there was something human still there. Like there was humanity still there to be restored. These…beings? I don't sense a shred of humanity in them at all. It's not like a vampire with the humanity turned off that can be turned on. It's like there's no humanity to turn on at all! They seem like…aliens."

"Well, maybe they are. It would explain the light show we got before the Other Side collapsed on us."

"Really, Damon? Aliens?!" Bonnie asked, exasperated.

"Hey, you said it, not me. Besides, it would also explain why you and I are here, lying in some strange room all naked and stuff. They always say the aliens are interested in experiments on the human body." Damon peered around the room with his eyes. "Maybe they're watching us right now, preparing to steal my sperm and your eggs to create some kind of alien hybrid."

"Where do you come up with this stuff? So we're part of an alien breeding program? Bonnie's expression shifted between incredulousness and amusement. "I've got to admit, it would take some serious alien intervention to get me to breed with you!"

Damon smirked while gazing over Bonnie's naked form in the mirror. "Really? I'd be highly motivated to participate!"

"Ugh! Am I supposed to be flattered by that comment?"

"Ya know, a simple 'thank you' would've sufficed. I am, after all, paying you a compliment."

"Gee, thanks Damon!"

She looked away but still felt his stare pulling her attention back to him in the mirror. "What?"

"Well?" Damon asked.

"Well what?"

"I gave you a compliment. The polite thing would be to return one back."

"Are you serious?"

"I've had a pretty bad day today, Bon Bon. Seeing you here kind of made it better…until you woke up and started talking. I just think if we're going to be stuck here together, that we try and get along. Besides, you can't seriously look at what I've got goin' on and not be somewhat enthralled."

Bonnie rolled her eyes and shook her head. She finally sighed deeply and turned her attention back to Damon. "Fine! Oh, Damon, what a hot bod you have. Elena must be so lucky to have such a stud to come home to!"

"Thank you!" Damon closed his eyes and flashed a satisfied smile.

Bonnie glanced at his face and, tried as she might, could not stifle a laugh. It surprised her that Damon could act so goofy at a time like this. But she was thankful for that. It represented the first time she felt a sense of normalcy and comfort within that place where everything was strange and ghastly.

Her content mood was horrifically broken with a new presence amongst them. While the mirrors revealed nobody else in the room, Bonnie could see Damon all of a sudden being picked up off the floor by some force. When Damon's full form finally shifted from her peripheral to central view, a murky shape suddenly had him by the throat. She couldn't make out the features of it. It was somewhat humanoid in form, incredibly tall and bulky. It seemingly had two arms and hands, one of which was grasping Damon and holding him up high off the floor. The rest resembled a person underneath layers and layers of swirling and shifting black materials, like a mixture of oil and fumes chaotically dancing together. The one distinct feature of the creature was that it seemed to have two appendages jutting out from its back. Bonnie could have sworn that they looked like wings.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?" The shape shook Damon back and forth while it suspended him in the air with the one hand, as though he weighed nothing. The voice was like those that she and Damon had heard before. It was genderless, ageless, lacking in humanity.

Damon struggled with the creature, grasping at its arms but unable to effect any change in its grip. Effortlessly, the creature threw Damon against one of the mirror walls. Instead of Damon bouncing off the wall or shattering the glass, the mirror wall absorbed him, as though it was made of liquid instead of anything solid.

Once Damon disappeared, the Warden turned its attention onto Bonnie. Looking into its face, while she still couldn't clearly make out any distinctive features, she could tell that it was smiling at her. A grotesque, sadistic, perverted smile, like an intelligent predator that had cornered its prey and had all the time in the world to devour its victim as slowly as desired, able to savour every nuance of living flesh, blood, anguish and suffering.

Bonnie began to tremble. She desperately tried to move but her body was still being pinned down. As the Warden approached her, she began to think of spells that could perhaps help her.

" _Phasmatos incendia_!" Bonnie chanted indignantly. She repeated it twice more, hoping to set the creature on fire, but nothing happened.

" _Suctus incendia_? AHA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" The laughter was the same as before when she was confronted with their fake Grams. Multiple voices joined in the glee this one creature seemed to be revelling in.

"You simple, little bitch! You think your pathetic parlour tricks work here, with us? We who master that which you wield?" In an instant, the black creature was on top of Bonnie, its face mere inches from hers. The stench coming from it was pungent and filthy, like an animal that had an open wound that was infected and had gotten out of control. "It's time for some more fun. Let us copulate and breed iniquity!"

"NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

The Warden stopped and stood erect. "So be it. Either you let us have fun, or your Grams does!"

The ceiling mirror stopped reflecting Bonnie and suddenly showed another naked person, older and female. It was Grams, with another black creature hovering over her. Grams' face was a mask of tears, horror and pain as the black shape ran its claws over her naked body. Bonnie's mind was instantly transported to the time when the Ancestors punished Grams instead of Bonnie for Bonnie's misuse of magic. Bonnie immediately began to weep.

"NO! PLEASE! LEAVE HER ALONE!"

"It's your choice…Bon Bon!" The Warden beside her said with coolness and apathy.

Bonnie closed her eyes, signalling her consent.

The Warden ran its hands over Bonnie's body, laughing and quivering as it did so.


	5. TVD S6 - Part 1 Ch5

_The Red Dragon_

Liv stood at the bar, drying up the last of the beer mugs she just washed with a small towel, preparing the bar for the usual Friday evening rush of students. The afternoon sun shone in through the massive windows in the campus bar, adding to the warm atmosphere as various students mingled around tables, some isolated in the easy chairs near the window, some studying, some not. One particular student that Liv kept looking towards was Tyler Lockwood. He was sitting in the corner, his chair pointing outwards towards the window, so that Liv could only get a side profile view of him. That suited her as she was careful to make sure he didn't catch her staring at him those numerous times that she was. She couldn't help but let out a small laugh when Tyler would take a sip of the gin and tonic that she had specially prepared for him. He would recoil at the taste, as though it had singed the inside of his mouth. He was obviously unprepared for the strength of the gin that Liv had put into it.

She placed the newly dried mug under the bar and looked up again to stare at Tyler when a lean young man with greenish eyes, dirty blonde hair and a slightly stubbly face blocked her view.

"Well, look at that! She's alive and well after all," said Luke mockingly.

Liv sighed, at both her twin brother's unwanted presence, and at her view of Tyler being blocked. "What are you doing here, Luke? I told you not to bother me while I'm working."

"Working? I didn't know that staring at Mystic Fall townies was considered working! Pray tell, what kind of training does one need for a career in stalking?"

Liv gave a sardonic smile. "Is this all you came for? To give me grief?"

"You haven't been answering your calls."

"Is there a reason why I should at this point? All I ever get is phone calls and text messages from Elena and her goofy friends asking me about when you and I are going to break that spell over Mystic Falls. And then I have mom and dad calling and texting. No doubt the coven wants us to go and kill another doppelganger…or not. They've certainly flip flopped about that more than a dying fish on land."

Luke sat down on a bar stool and whipped out his phone. "I can't blame you for being annoyed with all of that, but the messages from mom and dad weren't another assignment. Someone has been looking for you…desperately looking for you!"

"Who?"

Luke scrolled through his messages and finally found the one he was looking for.

"Her."

"Nisha?" Liv exclaimed after scrutinizing the messages on Luke's phone. "Is she back from Rome?"

"Apparently so, and she's been very, very eager to get in touch with you. So eager, in fact, that she hunted me down and forced me to bring her to you!"

"Wait—she's here?"

"Getting something out of her car as we speak. So tell me, sis, what's this all about?"

Liv was about to admit her ignorance when her attention was drawn to the main entrance. Like an outlaw gunman, wanted dead or alive, strolling into a saloon, all eyes in the bar soon turned to the exquisite, middle-aged beauty of Indian descent that broke the main entrance threshold. Bearing the looks of a Bollywood celebrity, with her long raven locks, piercing brown eyes and tan skin, dressed in black boots and black tight jeans, a black leather jacket and red dress shirt, with a black leather knapsack flung over her shoulder, she was the example of sophistication and sultriness. As soon as she locked eyes with Liv, her stare did not deviate until she reached the bar. Walking towards her with a purpose, a slight smile appeared on Nisha's face as excitement electrified her dark irises.

"Hello Olivia! Good to see you again. It's been a long trip so if you don't mind whipping me up a Mimosa, we can get down to business," Nisha said, sitting down on a bar stool next to Luke.

"Uh…sure. It's good to see you again too. Sorry about not returning your calls. Had I known it was you who was looking for me, I'd have answered my messages sooner," Liv said, grabbing the champagne and orange juice.

"Well, it's been five years since you last studied with me. I don't expect you to be at my beck and call," Nisha said curtly. "Yet your parents should have said something."

"So what is this all about? After five years spent in Rome, why come back here looking for us?" Luke asked.

"I wasn't looking for you," Nisha said, in a manner similar to that of a parent coldly telling their delusional child that Santa Claus wasn't real. "Sorry, Lucas, but this isn't for your eyes and ears. Thank you for helping me to find her. Now if you don't mind, I need to speak with Olivia alone please. Girl talk!"

"What? Hey, wait a minute. If this is coven business that involves my sister, then it involves me!"

"Lucas!" Nisha exclaimed, her bold brown eyes piercing him with a blazing stare of a thousand suns that immediately made Luke's eyes turn away. It was a stare that both Luke and Liv, in their childhood, had learnt meant sombre consequences if they pushed their luck with Nisha. They dubbed it her 'solar stare.'

"Okay, fine. I have to go get ready for a date anyways. I'll see you later, sis?" Luke asked, flashing her a look signifying that he fully intended to be told what her and Nisha's conversation was all about afterwards.

After Luke had left the bar, Liv placed Nisha's drink in front of her. "Ever the disciplinarian!"

"Just because you're no longer my students doesn't mean you have to stop listening to me," Nisha said, taking a sip of her Mimosa. "Hmmm…nice! I always said you were multi-talented. Never figured mixing drinks would be one of them."

"So why did you come back from Rome just to find me?"

"It's begun."

"What's begun?"

"The Revolution."

"What revolution? What are you talking about?"

"You cannot be this blonde, Olivia," Nisha responded, frustrated. She took another sip of her drink before continuing. "What is it that I've been teaching you ever since you became my student?"

Liv crossed her arms and began staring towards the ceiling as though she were being asked to recite conjugated Latin verbs that she had learned by rote. "Some future moment when other spirits will take over the ones we know and all magic will be changed, or something apocalyptic like that. Honestly Nisha, I kind of always thought that was you being just a bit paranoid about some kind of made up prophecy."

"It isn't paranoia or made up. It's real. That's why I've been in Rome and other parts of Europe studying up on history. Witch history. And it's all coming together. What happened with Markos and Mystic Falls was the tipping point in my investigation."

Liv shifted in her place. "Mystic Falls? You know about that?"

"The Other Side went down, Olivia! That's not something that goes unnoticed in our circles," Nisha said before taking another sip of her drink. "The Other Side has existed for two thousand years, and all of a sudden, it implodes. You don't think that would have had some—prophetic—significance?"

"Prophetic? There was never a prophecy about that."

Liv was about to turn away to grab another mug to dry when she felt an iron grip around her arm, pulling her in close.

"Oh, but there was, Olivia," Nisha said sternly, her solar stare burning into Liv's eyes. "I chose you over your brother to share those prophecies. Because I knew you were different. Your brother, he's strong—very strong, but strong in conventional ways. You Olivia, you're strong in unorthodox ways. And it is that quality that made me choose you. This is your birthright. This is your destiny!"

"Look, if you're going to be quoting Star Wars and stuff about the dark side, we're done here!"

"This is not a joke, Olivia! They are coming. As I have foreseen. And only the truly strong can manage them. That's why I'm giving you this."

Nisha let go of Liv and reached into her knapsack. She pulled out a very old leather bound book. On the front were various carvings and drawings, but the one that stood out was that of a red dragon.

"You—you found it?" Liv asked, astonished.

"It took a while, but we finally managed to steal it from the Vatican Secret Archives. Replaced it with an exquisite duplicate. This is what we—what you'll need—to survive what's coming."

Liv ran her hand over the front cover once she received it, caressing the outline of the dragon. A slight smile appeared on her face.

"It's powerful, Oliva," Nisha said, "like you. Learn from it. Absorb it."

"I've read copies of the Red Dragon Grimoire online before. It's nothing but a bunch of incantations that don't work."

"This is the real thing. Not some Dungeons and Dragons crap that some wanna-be warlock posted online."

"But why give this to me? If the Red Dragon Grimoire is as powerful as you say, why don't you take it? If they are coming, then why aren't you protecting yourself?"

"We all have a role to play. My role is clear. Yours will be—in time."

"Whoa! Now that is an old and ugly book!"

Neither Liv nor Nisha noticed Tyler's approach until it was too late. Liv attempted to hide the grimoire but knew that it would only serve to incite Tyler's curiosity even more. She pushed it aside, trying to distract Tyler's view from it.

"What is that anyways?" asked Tyler.

"This? Uh…this—this is something for Occult Studies. I'm doing a paper on ancient manuscripts," Liv replied.

"Well, certainly looks ancient enough. What is it? A coven grimoire or something?"

"Uhm…soooo, how was the G & T?"

Tyler shook his head while letting out a small chuckle. "You weren't kidding when you said it would kick my ass! But it was good. Can't wait to try out some of your other concoctions!"

"Play your cards right, and maybe you will," Liv said, locking eyes with Tyler, running a couple of fingers through her hair while giving a wry smile.

"Well, I didn't mean to interrupt your conversation," Tyler said, nodding at Nisha while picking up his bag. "I have to head on out for football practice. So, I'll see you later?"

"Football? They let you come back?"

"Yeah! I guess I wasn't as bad as I thought I was. I just have to keep the momentum going, ya know?"

"Well, good luck. If you need anything else for a pick-me-up, you know where to find me."

Tyler smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I do. I'll see you later."

As he walked toward the front entrance, Liv kept her gaze on him before turning her attention to Nisha, who seemed unimpressed.

"Well, that was cute," Nisha said in a monotone voice, taking a final sip of her drink.

"Don't get your makeup all messed up over this, Nisha. He's just a friend. Nothing more."

"Don't start getting any funny ideas about love and romance now, Olivia. You can't afford such frivolous distractions. I'm giving you this book because I believe you're committed to the cause. If you're not, tell me now, and—" Nisha reached over and grabbed the grimoire. "—I'll find someone else who can get the job done."

Liv pulled the grimoire away and held it close to her. "I said I'm fine! You can count on me."

"I should hope so. They don't take kindly to failure, especially for something as insipid as love." Nisha closed her knapsack and flung it over her shoulder. She turned to leave but gave one final glance back at Liv. "They will be in touch soon. They will be looking for you. Study that. You will need it to hold your own with them."

Liv wanted to ask who 'they' were but knew that if Nisha didn't tell her, that she wasn't going to. Nisha's approach had always been a 'need-to-know-basis.' Once Nisha left, Liv once again stroked the cover of the grimoire, tracing the outline of the dragon. She licked her lips as she eyed the old book, eager to uncover its secrets. She suddenly let out a small laugh, realizing how similar her reaction to the book was to her reaction to Tyler.

 _Former Glory_

Tyler stayed poised.

His knees bent, with one hand on the ground, the other at his side.

He looked forward.

Waiting.

Waiting for the call to move.

To bolt.

To show everyone that he still had it.

The quarterback finally made the call.

They snapped the ball.

As the guards and tackle players all collided with the defensive players, Tyler started his run.

He was immediately shadowed by Malcolm again. This time, Tyler was able to shake him, if only momentarily. He smiled, the irony of being able to out distance the guy who made it all possible for him to do so was not lost on him.

Tyler managed to create distance from Malcolm. He looked back towards the quarterback, who saw him and threw the ball a couple of yards down, just as he had done before. This time though, Tyler found the sprint to catch the ball exquisitely easier to accomplish. The equipment seemed to work with him rather than against him. The strength in his legs felt potent and invigorating, as though he was plugged into an electric current that was constantly feeding energy into his veins, giving him the speed and power he needed to catch the ball.

Once he caught the ball, he rushed forward, his face cutting through the air, the sound of wind rushing past his ears, his vision bouncing as he panted, singularly focused on the uprights and the eventual touchdown. Tyler soon realized that this was the closest he had felt to feeling like a wolf again. Eyeing his target in the distance, his nose directed to the wind, singularly focused on one goal, his mind and body working in full unison with the Earth as an ally to get what he wanted. Despite the excruciating transformation process that werewolves endure to achieve their wolf form, the intimate union that was achieved with Nature once in wolf form was beyond any experience a human could ever have. Feeling truly in sync with Nature was an involvement most humans could not touch, as humans constantly feel like an outsider to Nature, even those who somehow manage to find some small symbiotic relationship with it. Constantly trying to change Nature and make it submit whenever Nature, in all its power, refuses to harmonize, humanity could never experience a true bond with it.

For the werewolf, it was the other way around. Nature made them submit, and the reward was an invitation to become a part of the primitive, pure and divine existence of Reality itself. The wolf felt the nuances of Nature that is beyond the human ken, the multiple sensory perceptions that the human mind had been excluded from since their creation. It was the absence of trying to live in peace with Nature that rewarded the werewolf because there was no 'try.' Wolves just naturally were a part of Nature. It was a reward that made the painful monthly transformation almost worth it. Almost.

Tyler was so enraptured in the near sensation of experiencing his werewolf side that he flinched when Malcolm grabbed his shoulder, trying to drag him down. Tyler desperately tried to wrestle him away with his free hand, but Malcolm showed incredible strength that was more than capable of stalling Tyler's tactics. Likewise, Malcolm found it much harder than he initially thought to bring Tyler down.

Still grabbing at Tyler's jersey, trying to slow down his pace, Malcolm grew impatient and began grabbing at the facemask instead. Once he got a firm grasp, he started slowing down his run, torqueing Tyler's neck to the far right in the process. Tyler was quite experienced at getting his neck snapped and knew exactly what it felt like. He found the same sensation occurring at that moment, albeit a lot slower. He realized that if he tried to fight against Malcolm's pull, which was not letting up, his neck would indeed turn to the point of serious injury. Tyler relented and slowed down, turning his body into Malcolm's pull, eventually tumbling to the floor while dropping the football. Malcolm reached for the ball and turned around to run it as a fumble, but the coach blew the whistle on the play.

Tyler immediately bounced back up, ripped his helmet off and hurled it at Malcolm's chest. "What the hell, man?!"

"Whoa! Take it easy, bro! It's just part of the game," replied Malcolm, throwing his own helmet down.

"Part of the game?!" spat Tyler. "Pulling at my facemask and almost snapping my neck? That's part of the game?!"

"Gee, exaggerate much?" Malcolm scoffed. "I think you're just pissed because I still owned your ass despite your 'performance enhancement.'"

Tyler shoved Malcolm in the chest. "What the hell did you just say to me?"

"Oh, 'roids make you deaf too? Step off, Lockwood, or you'll be drinkin' that juice through a straw for the rest of the year!"

By this time, Malcolm and Tyler were joined by their teammates and eventually the coach.

"Alright, break it up! That's enough from the both of you!" bellowed the coach.

"Hey, don't look at me, coach. It's Lockwood here. Boy's been juicin' and he's upset that it ain't helping him any!"

Indignation began percolating within Tyler, drawing from a source that Tyler had thought been dormant since he returned from the Other Side. Though his werewolf gene wasn't activated, it felt as though something had tapped into it, drawing his animalistic fury to the forefront of his emotional response. Breathing in deeply, trying to quell the tidal wave of wrath that was threatening to overtake him, Tyler muttered "That's not true!"

"Isn't it? You couldn't blow past me at the last practice, and now you're keeping pace? Just like your days at Mystic Falls High, right? All natural!"

Tyler noticed the other players snickering and whispering to each other, directing their view in his direction. That only poured fuel on the inferno that was seeking to burn his self-control to ash.

"Go ahead, coach. Test him. Let's see if it doesn't come back positive!"

Tyler sneered. "Yeah, why don't we both go and get tested!"

"Fine by me!" Malcolm said, shrugging. "Unlike some people, I have natural talent. I don't need no enhancement. Not like some washed up chump who doesn't have what it takes anymore!"

Despite everyone's eyes on the both of them, no one saw the cues to Tyler's attack until he had already speared tackled Malcolm in his mid-section. As Malcolm fell back, his head awkwardly smacked against his own helmet on the ground. By the time Malcolm's head hit the grass, he was completely knocked out. Seeing only the blazing red of indignation, Tyler mounted on top of him and launched three haymakers, one of them breaking Malcolm's nose before the other players grabbed and pulled Tyler off of him.

"LET GO! GET THE HELL OFF ME!"

As Tyler struggled to free himself to continue his assault, the coach bent down over Malcolm. He put his index and middle fingers to Malcolm's neck, held his hand under Malcolm's bloody nose, and then attempted to lift up his jersey and football equipment to get better access to his chest.

"CALL 911 NOW!" the coach ordered as he began administering CPR. One player immediately ran to the bench to get his cell from his bag. As the coach looked up to see if his instructions were being followed, he glowered at Tyler. "AND CALL CAMPUS SECURITY FOR HIM!"

Tyler stopped struggling, though he was still being held by the other players. A rapid heartbeat and nervous tingling circulating throughout his body signaled his anger morphing into fear and apprehension as he watched the coach perform CPR on a seemingly lifeless Malcolm, all the while mentally praying that Malcolm would wake up at any moment, alive and well.

 _Payback_

"Wait, I think you have the wrong people!" Jeremy pleaded as he and Elena held their hands up.

"The Gilbert brother who's a member of the Brotherhood of the Five and the Gilbert sister who's the Petrova doppelganger," Istas snapped. "Yup, I got the right people all right!"

Elena stared at the pistol in Istas' hand, and Istas smiled. "Oh, don't worry, Princess. Wood tipped bullets. They will kill you just fine!"

"Why are you doing this? We have no idea who you are," Elena asked.

"And you never will. Seems fitting if you ask me," replied Istas. She pointed her gun at Elena's chest and rested her index finger on the trigger. She started to put pressure on it when her eyes darted to her right, her focus being broken by the sound of someone approaching from behind her—someone approaching extremely fast.

Istas spun around as quickly as she could to point her gun at the approaching threat, but Alaric proved to be much too fast, even for her impressive vampire speed. He grabbed her right forearm that held the gun and lifted it skyward with his left hand, making sure that she did not have a direct line of fire at him. He squeezed her arm until she finally dropped the gun on the ground. However, as soon as the gun dropped, Istas rotated her right arm clockwise until Alaric's palm was facing upwards. She grabbed at his pinky finger with her left hand and bent it back towards him. He immediately let go and stood on his toes, trying to alleviate the pain of his pinky finger being twisted backwards. Istas then performed a _thai_ leg kick, slamming the shin of her right leg into Alaric's upper left thigh. Alaric bent over slightly, contorting as his leg gave out. Istas followed up with a front kick to his gut, forcing Alaric to bend forward. That allowed Istas to lunge forward, raising her left knee, drilling it into Alaric's right eye, cracking the orbital bone around his eye socket. Alaric flew backwards, with the back of his head crashing against the ground. He clutched his eye, writhing on the floor partially dazed.

Istas was about to reach into her pocket to grab her wooden knives when she sensed Elena approaching her. Despite using her vampire speed, Elena was far slower than Alaric and thus Istas had no problems timing her reaction. She waited until Elena was in range when she performed a spinning hook kick, driving the heel of her left foot into Elena's left temple. The hit was an instant knockout, causing Elena to tumble to the floor unconscious.

Surveying the bodies before her, Istas looked up to address the last threat. However, Jeremy had gotten the jump on her, already pointing Alaric's gun that he produced from behind his back. Knowing Jeremy to be a Hunter, Istas couldn't risk fighting him head on. She ran away in an instant before Jeremy could pull the trigger.

Jeremy cursed under his breath and quickly went over to Elena and Alaric. He beseeched the both of them to get up when he suddenly felt a presence standing right behind him. A far more experienced Hunter would have created some distance at that point. A more experienced Hunter would have tried something unconventional so as to ensure that the threat did not keep the advantage on him.

However, Jeremy was not an experienced Hunter.

He amateurishly spun around, hoping that he was fast enough to get another shot at Istas. She easily blocked his attack and caught his arm, driving her left fist into the triceps area just above his elbow, snapping the bone. Jeremy screeched in pain while Istas grabbed him by his lapels and _judo_ -threw him over her hips and onto the ground, cracking two ribs on his left side.

"Ya know, I've actually fought a Brotherhood of the Five Hunter before. And I gotta say," Istas murmured to Jeremy while picking him up off the ground, "you really suck for a Hunter!"

She launched Jeremy through the air, throwing him 20 yards away from her. He slammed face first against a tree, breaking his nose and cheek bone, and then plummeted to the ground unconscious.

Istas looked around for her gun and saw it on the ground behind her. As she went to retrieve it, she noticed Elena's unconscious body, but not Alaric's. Her realization came too late as Alaric appeared behind her, surprising her once again with an incredible speed that she had never encountered before, even amongst the oldest of vampires that she had fought. Alaric wrenched her left arm and pinned it to the middle of her back, and looped his right arm under hers and resting his hand on the back of her head, putting her in a half-nelson.

"Alright! Now, suppose you tell me why you're trying to kill my friends," Alaric interrogated.

She struggled against his hold, trying to free her left arm from behind her back, but Alaric put more pressure on it, causing a painful strain in her elbow and shoulder joints. Her head was being pushed down as her right arm remained dangling in the air.

"Quit fighting! I'm stronger and faster than you'll ever be!"

"Maybe—you are," grunted Istas. "But—you are—*ungh*—you are still—just—a man!"

With her right hand, she reached for Alaric's hand that was pressing down on the back of her head. She grabbed at one of his fingers and pulled it back, causing Alaric to break the half-nelson to avoid his finger being broken. Simultaneously, Istas shifted her hips to the right, allowing her left arm to push forward instead of being pinned to her back. As soon as that happened, she broke free from Alaric's grip, reached down and grabbed at his groin and squeezed with everything she had.

Alaric's eyes and mouth widened as he tried to let out a scream, but barely led out an audible groan due to his inability to breathe. His face turned red and his eyes filled with tears as the pain of his testicles being crushed like grapes in a winepress coursed from his groin to his lower abdomen, continuing up all the way throughout his entire torso. He collapsed to his knees, grasping at his groin, trying to breathe in but having incredible difficulty doing so. Istas stood triumphantly over him, reached down, grabbed his head and snapped his neck.

Smirking as she stared at Alaric's motionless body, Istas was too enraptured in her own victory over a vastly stronger and faster vampire to notice Elena sneaking up behind her, muzzling Istas' own gun into the middle of her back.

"Now THAT was a low blow," Elena snarled. "But I think you should answer his question. Why are you trying to kill my brother and me?"  
With her hand raised in a surrendered position, Istas smiled at the false advantage that Elena thought she had. Moving at human speed, Istas could easily manoeuver herself out of danger with Elena being able to counter if she was skilled enough. At her vampire speed however, Elena had no chance. Istas simply turned her body so that she was standing perpendicular to Elena and safely out of the line of fire. Elena pulled the trigger but hit nothing but air. Istas slammed her palm into Elena's face. Elena dropped the gun as her hands went to tend to her broken and bleeding nose. Istas then delivered a powerful side kick to Elena's left leg, right above her knee cap, causing her leg to bend in the wrong direction. Elena collapsed to the ground, screaming from both the pain and from the shock of seeing her own leg bent in such an unnatural position. She desperately tried to pull herself along the ground, away from Istas, who had already reached down and picked up her gun, cocked it and was pointing it at Elena.

"Why—*aggghhh*—why are you—why are you doing this?" Elena wailed, clutching at her leg as a waterfall of blood filled her mouth from her nose.

"Why, you ask?! You want me to tell you why? Yeah, I suppose I should be the bigger person here and extend to you the one courtesy that you never extended to any of those countless vampires that you and your brother casually decided to murder!"

"Wha—what are you—*unngghhh*—what are you—talking about?"

"You and your brother killed Kol Mikaelson, did you not?"

Elena's grimace immediately turned to a stunned look of uneasiness. Istas smiled at the change.

"I'm going to take THAT as a sign of guilt—the guilt that you and your brother should carry for purposely killing off scores of vampires who you didn't even know. Vampires like my sister, Angie. All to complete a tattoo that would lead to Qetsiyah's Cure, right? What happened to the Cure, by the way? Obviously YOU didn't use it, since you're still a vampire. So, what happened to it? What did my sister and all those vampires die for? Did they die for something noble, hmmm? Something heroic? Did you bother asking any of them if they wanted to die for your cause before you went ahead and killed them all? Did you? DID YOU?! ANSWER ME YOU STUPID BITCH!"

Elena said nothing. She continued to sluggishly drag herself away from Istas, who slowly kept walking towards her, pointing her gun straight at Elena's heart, her face contorted into a look of pure disgust.

"I've waited a long time for this moment. On behalf of my sister—on behalf of all those vampires who died because of you, here's hoping you rot on the Other Side!"

Istas' eyes and then her head suddenly shifted to her left. She could hear two people rapidly coming towards her. She pulled her gun back, stuffed it into her pocket and sneered at Elena.

"I'll just be a moment, Princess. Excuse me."

She vanished, blazing forward towards the oncoming approach of Stefan and Caroline, who had hoped to catch Istas by surprise. Instead, their parallel running only allowed Istas the means to dispose of them even quicker. As soon as she got in between them, she performed a jumping split kick, with each of her feet smashing into the sides of the head of both Caroline and Stefan, the impact torqueing their necks to the point of snapping.

As Istas landed and looked over the unconscious bodies of Stefan and Caroline, she heard someone else in the distance approaching the area where she had left Elena. She vamp-sped to Elena's position and found Abby kneeling beside her.

"Abby? What—what are you doing here?" Istas asked, pulling her gun out again. "Did—did Nancy send you here to stop me?"

Abby rose up from Elena's side and walked over to Istas. "No, Izzy. I came here to Mystic Falls to find my daughter. I called Nancy last night to let her know and she asked me to watch out for you, but I wasn't sent here to confront you."

"Good! Then you won't get in the way of my mission."

Istas raised her gun to point it at Elena but Abby stood in the line of fire.

"Get out of the way, Abby!"

"I'm not letting you do this. You're not killing this girl."

"You knew the Gilbert siblings this entire time you were with my tribe and you didn't tell me?"

"Considering how you always talked of revenge, can you blame me?"

Istas moved to her right to get a clear line of fire on Elena. Abby moved with her, blocking her shot.

"I told you to get out of the way!"

"You're not killing her, Izzy!"

"And why not? She killed my sister. She recklessly killed an untold number of vampires. You could've easily been one them. And all for what? No…I'm going to get my revenge. I just hope Angie is watching all of this from the Other Side. This one's for you, sis!"

Abby cocked her head slightly sideways, her mouth gaping faintly open as she stared sorrowfully at Istas.

"You don't know, do you?" Abby asked. "Nancy didn't tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"About the Other Side."

"What about it?"

"It's gone, Izzy. It collapsed. I confirmed with Nancy last night. That's why I'm here. Because my daughter was the Anchor to the Other Side and now it's gone and I don't know where she is. All those people went somewhere and we don't know where!"

Istas' hand began quivering. "Gone? Wha—what do you mean gone?!"

"It's not there anymore. I don't know what happened. But this girl and her friends do. That's why you can't kill them," Abby said, her voice cracking, "because they're the only hope I have left to find my daughter!"

Istas frowned as she began intentionally pointing the gun at Abby. She blinked rapidly as tears muddled her vision. "You're—you're lying! Nancy told you to say this to stop me. Angie isn't gone. She can't—SHE CAN'T BE GONE!"

Istas moved to her left to get another shot at Elena. Abby once again got in her way.

"DAMN IT, ISTAS! IF YOU KILL HER, WE'LL NEVER KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO MY DAUGHTER AND TO YOUR SISTER. THEY WILL BE GONE…FOREVER!"

Istas wiped her eyes with her forearm. She lowered the gun as she began breathing heavily, her lips quivering as she thought about Angeni. She looked at Abby, who was also wiping away tears from her face.

"Okay, Abby…okay," Istas said, nodding. "Have it your way."

She vamp sped to her right before Abby could react, raised her gun and shot Elena.

 _The Revolution_

The last, fading rays of sunlight disappeared over the horizon. Bonnie walked into a clearing within the darkened woods some distance away from the center of Mystic Falls. She stopped and stood, smiling, at the foot of a fading shadow on the ground, the remains of a large pentagram. This was the place where her supposed cleansing from Expression magic was supposed to have occurred, a cleansing that instead ended with the massacre of twelve witches. Under the influence of Silas, Bonnie had managed to convince her mother's friend, Aja, and her coven to perform an exorcism of sorts to rid her of the dark magic's influence. But thanks to the interference of Caroline, Stefan and Klaus, it only resulted in the third and final sacrifice needed to complete the Expression Triangle and to bring the veil to the Other Side down. And now Bonnie stood in the same place, with an altogether different yet similar purpose in mind. The irony was not lost on her—on them.

She outstretched her hand, feeling the power that still emanated from the spot where the witches died. The latent darkness was fueled by the foolish decision of both Caroline and Klaus to bury the witches' bodies nearby. More so than either of the other two other points in the Triangle that she and Damon had visited, this location was the more darker and powerful. This was the spot where the spirits had lost to them and their brand of magic. This was where the cracks in the walls between realms began to appear—the cracks that eventually the Sovereignty would rip wide open, allowing them access into the Other Side. This was where the doorway from the Abyss into the living world would be created.

Bonnie was about to begin chanting when she turned around, alerted by the snapping of twigs and leaves, the approach of Damon and two women mindlessly following him.

"Your compulsion works?" asked Bonnie.

"Within close proximity," replied Damon. "There's about a 50 yard radius where I can't keep the compulsion in effect and they snap out of it. That's why I was able to compel these two from town. We hijacked a car and I was able to stay in the trunk until the sun went down. They're a bit—mellow, right now. Heh, heh, heh! What about the spell?"

"I haven't tried yet. But I'm certain it will work. And once it does, we—"

Bonnie and Damon's attention were drawn to a couple approaching them from out of the woods. They were a tall, middle aged, bald Caucasian man and a younger, shorter, slender Hispanic woman. Both were dressed in business-like attire, looking like two corporate executives having just come off from a long day at the office.

"Well, well, well! The welcoming committee arrived after all!" Damon mocked.

"It's an important event—your return from the Abyss," said the gentleman in a monotone voice. "Welcome back."

"Thank you," replied Damon, bowing sardonically. "Now, let me guess…CEO's?"

"Yes, of a pharmaceutical company. This one," the gentleman said, motioning to his female companion, "is a corporate lawyer with one of the biggest law firms in the country."

"Typical!" snapped Bonnie. "You never did have much of an imagination."

"They serve our purpose."

"And what purpose do you serve now, gracing us with your…presence?" asked Damon, raising an eyebrow.

"We are here to deliver a message," replied the gentleman.

Bonnie chuckled. "Messengers! How utterly—angelic—of you!"

"Cute. His majesty is reiterating his previous warning. His order, actually. You will cease with your campaign and return to the Kingdom."

"And we reiterate our previous objection. Why should we?" Damon challenged.

The gentleman sneered. "Still forgetting your place? There is a hierarchy in the Kingdom, remember? You're not powerful enough to challenge that!"

"We have not forgotten our place!" Bonnie hissed. "It is because we remember our place, our lowly place on the totem pole in relation to you and his majesty that we seek to change it. We created a new hierarchy while in Tartarus. There, WE are the Sovereignty!"

"You are no longer in Tartarus. But you could be, if you challenge us again."

"Dubious threat!" replied Damon. "If you don't want to join us, then leave! His majesty's time has come and gone. He had his chance. Now it's OUR turn!"

"There is no deadline to his dominion, imbecile! You are in no position to make demands!"

"Why should we follow a failure? ' _εἰπὸν ἵνα οἱ λίθοι οὗτοι ἄρτοι γένωνται_ (Tell these stones to become loaves of bread.),'" Bonnie mocked in ancient Greek. "The one chance he had and that was the best he could do?"

"Insolent maggots," replied the gentleman, dispassionately. "So be it. You risk war on two fronts yet again. And you will fail as before."

The gentleman reached into his blazer and pulled out a pistol and nonchalantly shot the heads of the two women that Damon had compelled.

"NOOOO!" Bonnie screeched.

Damon vamp-sped to the gentleman and grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground. "Do you have ANY IDEA what I can do to this PATHETIC, FLIMSY VESSEL YOU CALL HOME?!"

Though gasping for breath, the gentleman's expressions remained stolid and commanding. "Indeed, I do. Just—as—*ack*—you know—what I can do—to YOU—outside of it!"

Damon gritted his teeth and then begrudgingly released his grip. The gentleman dropped to the ground, coughing and gasping momentarily. When he finally recaptured his breath, he straightened up, fixed his tie and blazer, glaring scornfully at both Damon and Bonnie.

"Remember, there is always the hierarchy. Do not allow your delusions of grandeur to let you forget that!" warned the gentleman.

"Well, maybe that's a lesson you will learn. You have no doubt noticed the spell that is cast over this quaint little town," Bonnie replied, motioning with her finger skyward. "We don't know how you came in, but unfortunately, you are not leaving. You're trapped here, like us. So you had better get used to the new hierarchy!"

"How utterly—human—your faulty powers of reasoning are! You indeed have forgotten what it means to be so high in the Kingdom, to be so close to the Brilliant One. To be of intelligence and power that only the High Enemy can match. I can get out just fine."

"What? How?" probed Bonnie.

"It is obviously beyond your ken. Continue on with your foolish campaign. As we said, you will fail, whether we interfere or not."

The gentleman turned and took a couple of steps out of the clearing when he noticed his female companion remaining where she stood.

"Coming?" the gentleman asked.

"No," the lady replied.

She stepped forward towards Damon and Bonnie, shifted her hair away from her neck and tilted her head. "I wish to join you. To make us a forever home, so that we never have to pass through the arid places again."

Damon laughed while Bonnie flashed a smirk at the gentleman. Damon grabbed the lady's face and began kissing her passionately, violently. He stopped kissing, grabbed her hair and cranked her head back, and then bit into her neck. She cried at first, then pressed against Damon's head with her hand, encouraging his feeding, entering into euphoric bliss as her life drained away from her. He disengaged before killing her, bit into his wrist and let her suck from him. She eagerly lapped and sucked away at the blood that oozed out from his vein. Damon pulled her hair to stop her feeding and looked at the puncture marks on her neck. To his delight, they slowly started to close.

"Well, now," beamed Damon, cradling the lady's head against his chest, caressing her hair, "it seems that there is a revolution stirring. His majesty and the Kingdom may oppose us, but others won't. Continue on with your foolish obstruction. We will succeed!"

Damon then snapped her neck.

The gentleman's expression did not change. He continued walking into the woods as Bonnie briefly followed, hollering at him. "YOU TELL THE BRILLIANT ONE ABOUT THE REVOLUTION! THE SOVEREIGNTY IS HERE! THIS WORLD IS OURS NOW!"

With her demon eyes blazing brightly, Bonnie stretched her hand out towards a random tree. The tree snapped in two at its midpoint when Bonnie clenched her hand into a fist. The top of the tree fell towards her, but Bonnie waved her hand, sending the tree crashing through the forest. She marched back to the clearing.

"Head back into town and grab a couple of more people," Bonnie commanded Damon. "Our new recruit is going to need human blood to feed on when she wakes up. Meanwhile, I will initiate the spell to bring the barrier down and open the gateway to the Abyss. We will definitely need more reinforcements now that we are fighting two fronts."

"Some of the majesty's acolytes may follow us, but others won't. He may draw alliances through coercion from some old friends. We will need some more power on our side."

"Agreed. Go!"

Damon vanished while Bonnie levitated the two dead women that the gentleman had just killed. She began a chant that would eventually rip their skeletal structures straight out of their bodies. Bonnie figured to use their bones to further enhance her spell to open a gateway to the Abyss.

The revolution had begun.

 _Curiouser_

It was as though someone kept jamming an ice pick into the side of her head, the throbbing pain was practically unbearable. She hadn't felt such a headache since she hit her head after slipping on some paint in her old house. Ironically enough, it was that injury that led to her becoming a vampire. Now, as a vampire, she was once again experiencing that pain, but due to drastically different reasons.

Elena could hear voices all around her, albeit faintly. Muddled and indistinct, like trying to hear a conversation in the next room through a concrete wall. The constant ringing in her ear didn't help in her trying to decipher the sounds either.

"Elena!"

The voice was male and familiar. She opened her eyes but her vision was foggy and vague.

"Here, drink this."

She suddenly felt the familiar sensation of a nozzle from a blood bag being put to her lips. She automatically clamped down and started sucking. The blood was cold, almost giving her brain freeze. But as she kept sucking, like a foggy windshield on a damp cold morning rapidly clearing when the dashboard heat is turned on, her surroundings soon came into sharp focus.

Matt was kneeling before her, taking the deflated blood bag from her when she had finished. Elena looked around to see Caroline and Abby tending to Alaric, while Stefan was wandering into the clearing with Jeremy propped up on his arms. Her little brother's face was painted with blood and bruises, while he clutched at his side, wincing with each deep breath that he took.

"Jeremy! Ow!" Elena almost toppled over after to trying to stand, her left leg not responding to her commands. She looked down, relieved to see that her leg was no longer bent in an unnatural position. But she was still having a hard time putting any pressure on it.

"Whoa! Take it easy, Elena," Matt advised, holding her up as she once again tried to walk. "Stefan just finished resetting your leg. Jeremy is going to be okay. Stefan already gave him some of his blood."

"Wha—what happened, Matt?"

"I came here to meet you guys and found you with a wooden bullet lodged in your head and the rest all laid out. After talking with Abby, I went back to town to retrieve some blood bags while she helped you guys."

"Where—where is—?" Elena groggily asked.

She didn't need vampire hearing to pick up on Istas shouting into her phone from a few feet away. The voice of the woman, whose violent introduction nearly cost Elena and Jeremy their lives, immediately put Elena and everyone else's senses on high alert.

"WHAT THE HELL, NANCE?!...THAT'S SUCH…NO, YOU OWED ME THE TRUTH!…AND SHE'LL LIVE FOR AS LONG AS I SAY SHE LIVES!…I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT, NANCE!…"

All of them turned their gaze over to where Istas was standing and yelling into her phone. They then all looked at each other, a similar expression on each of their faces, conveying the uncertainty of staying where they were while allowing this dangerous assassin to be so close to them.

Elena stamped down on her left leg again, testing it to see if it had healed enough for her to put her full weight on it. While there were some pins and needles sensations running throughout her calf and foot, the leg was able to support her. She began limping towards Jeremy and Stefan.

"Jer, are you okay?"

Jeremy winced again as he breathed in, though seemingly with not as much intensity as before. The deep black and purple bruises on his face were slowly becoming lighter. "I think so. Stefan's blood seems to be doing—"

"Alright, Princess! Suppose you tell me what you did to make the Other Side go away!"

Istas appeared instantaneously before them, pointing her gun at Elena's temple. Fresh from suffering an emotional mixture of both grief and anger, her feral eyes raged through Elena that signaled to Jeremy, Stefan and Matt that she had no compunctions whatsoever with killing her on the spot.

"I wasn't responsible for the Other Side going away," Elena replied, bringing her hands up instinctively in a defensive position. "Just…please…can't we—"

"That's enough, Izzy." Abby's voice was calm and slow as she grabbed Istas' gun and gently took it away from her. "You're not helping matters."

"Okay, what is going on? Who is this person? And why is she trying to kill Elena?" asked Caroline.

"Allow me to introduce Istas. Her family is from an Indigenous tribe that I've known for years and have been staying with for the past few months. She and her sister, Angenie, are vampire hunters. I've been staying with them, trying to—"

"Hold on," Alaric interrupted excitedly. "Istas and Angenie—the Snow Angels?"

"You've heard of us," Istas confirmed, spinning around to face Alaric.

"Only through folktale and legend. Two indigenous sisters who roamed the plains, sometimes urban areas, meting out justice and mercy to thieves, murderers, kidnappers, child and wife abusers, and the occasional unfaithful husband. Legend had it that even the mere thought of infidelity brought the Snow Angels to the foot of a man's bed, where they would seduce him to test his loyalty to his wife and would either kill him or leave him alone. But I never heard of you being vampires who hunted vampires."

"Look, if you want to know the history, I'll be happy to refer you to my Wikipedia page. Right now, I just want to know where my sister is and how I can bring her back. And you lot seem to have all the answers. So where is she?"

"They don't know, Izzy," Abby interjected calmly. "That's what we're trying to figure out."

"Where could she have gone, Abby? Where did all the inhabitants go? Could they have gone to another spirit world?" Istas asked.

"Perhaps. Your ancestors reside in a different spirit world. Consecrated witches end up in yet another world. Witches precede the Other Side, so if the Other Side isn't there anymore, it's reasonable then that all those who were in it might have gone on to another spirit world."

"How many spirit worlds are there?" asked Caroline.

Abby shook her head. "That's tough to say. Some believe the different spirit worlds are actually the same world, just partitioned. It was the Other Side that seemed to be a world of its own. If they don't go to the Other Side, then it's possible that witches now are free to go to any other spirit world that exists."

"But that's for witches. What about other supernatural creatures like vampires and werewolves? Where do they go?" asked Istas.

"I don't know, Izzy!" Abby said frustratingly, feeling the pressure of being the only one with witch knowledge among the group who they were all looking to for answers. "This is all new to me too. I have no idea."

Matt sheepishly approached Abby. "Are these other spirit worlds supposed to be like heaven or something?"

"Why do you ask?" Abby asked perplexed.

"I was over on the Other Side before it collapsed. I was trying to save my sister, Vicki, and I couldn't. I saw her get pulled away by some force into nothingness. I couldn't even see where she went. It was like some black hole opened up in the sky and dragged her inside."

Stefan nodded in agreement. "It's true. I was about to get sucked away into…something…as well, before Lexi—" Stefan cleared his throat and stared at the ground for a moment before resuming. "—before she saved me. It was like someone switched on a massive vacuum, sucking everyone into oblivion."

Istas nodded and shifted impatiently. "Ok, I've heard enough! I don't care where my sister is, what I do care is about finding her. So where do we start?"

"We can't do anything until we can get to where it all started. Liv told me that the Travelers initiated a spell that brought their leader, Markos, back to life. It occurred in Mystic Falls and that's what led to the Other Side's collapse," Elena responded. "Until we can get into that town again, there isn't much we can do."

"Well, what a defeatist attitude you have, Princess! I suppose when it involves getting some cure for vampirism for yourself, you'll move heaven and earth and kill a bunch of innocent people, to get it!" Istas chastised. "But saving a bunch of those innocent people on the Other Side, many that you helped to put there, is obviously not high on your priority list!"

Elena's lips curled into a snarl. Her eyes widened, her fingers and feet tingling as the blood rushed from her extremities to her face, indignation quickly overwhelming any fear that she may have had about Istas.

"Now you listen to me, Snow Angel!" Elena retorted, marching towards Istas until she was nearly standing toe to toe with her. Like a bull, she was breathing in through her nose, her eyes adopting the same feral look that Istas had just moments before. "Me…they…all of us have someone that we're trying to rescue from the Other Side as well. It's not just you!"

Istas closed the gap between them so that they were almost nose to nose, though Istas was slightly taller than Elena. Her closed mouth morphed into a slight sneer, her eyes re-acquiring the savage look from before, mixed in with both admiration and insult at Elena's pluck. Her fingers began wiggling in anticipation of action, her weight shifting to one foot to give her attack an explosive and unstoppable dynamic. She was already planning on how to eliminate them all in quick succession if any of them attempted to interfere in her killing of Elena.

Alaric studied Istas' face and recognized the warning signs. He quickly got in between the two and pushed Elena back, standing in her place in front of Istas.

"That's enough! We're not doing this again," commanded Alaric, looking down at Istas. "You want to get your sister back? We want our friends back. So we have to work together on this, not spend the rest of this time fighting. Agreed?"

Istas looked up at Alaric. Her smirk twisted into a bitter smile, one that instantly conveyed to him an agreeing to his proposal, but not because she was afraid of him but because it suited her—and only because it suited her. That unnerved him somewhat. Istas shot a quick glance at Elena before turning around and walking away from Alaric, breathing in deeply and shaking her hands to expel the charge of adrenaline that had prepared her for combat.

Elena turned around to gather herself also, her blood pressure and heart beat slowly returning to normal. She wiped the trickle of sweat running down her forehead and began delicately shaking, realizing how reckless she had been to stare death in the face and challenge her to blink.

Exhaling in relief, Alaric turned to the others. "Okay, so let's figure this out. We know that vampires and witches can't enter Mystic Falls—"

"Uh, I don't know about that," Matt interjected.

"What do you mean?" asked Alaric.

"I saw something last night. Or I should say…someone."

Stefan stepped forward towards Matt, scrutinizing him momentarily. "You saw a vampire, didn't you?"

Matt peered at Stefan, partially stunned. "How did you know that?"

"We only learned of this a while ago when we met up with my mom," Caroline chimed in. "She got a call from one of her deputies. They found a couple of dead bodies in a dumpster near the Grill. One of the bodies was drained of blood. She went into town to confirm but it seemed like a vampire attack."

"Not just any vampire, Caroline. I saw—" Matt replied, shaking his head. He looked at Stefan and then at Elena. "—I saw Damon! It was Damon!"

Elena's entire body went numb for a moment. She stepped toward Matt, disbelief and confusion permeating through every pore on her face. "What do you mean you saw Damon?!"

"It was him, Elena. Him and—," Matt looked apologetically towards Jeremy and Abby, "—Bonnie."

Elena shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair. "Okay! Matt, what are you talking about? You're not making any sense now!"

"I'm telling you, I saw them. They killed two people in the alley behind the Grill. I even took a photo of them with my phone."

Matt pulled out his phone and searched for the photo that he took. He handed the phone over to Elena who analysed it, enlarging the photo with her fingers, trying to bring the image into focus.

"This—this doesn't show anything, Matt!" Elena said indignantly. "That could be anyone."

Jeremy took the phone from her and had a look before passing the phone around. Caroline was about to take a glance when her own phone started buzzing.

"It's my mom. Maybe she's discovered something," Caroline said, walking off while mumbling into her phone.

"Look, I know what I saw," defended Matt. "It was Damon and Bonnie."

"Or someone who looked like Damon and Bonnie," Stefan offered.

"What?" asked Elena.

"Think about it. Someone obviously killed and fed on that guy the deputies found. We know that vampires still can't venture into Mystic Falls. Caroline and I verified that this afternoon. So it can't be Damon. Not if he's still a vampire. The only other being who ever needed to drink blood to survive was Silas. He wasn't a vampire like us. He was an immortal. And Silas was a Traveler who could appear as anyone. So he could exist within Mystic Falls. It's possible that somehow he was able to come back."

Elena shook her head, trying to make sense of it all. "But…Silas became a witch, and he died a witch. Why would he come back as a blood drinking immortal? Didn't he take the Cure?"

"And if it is him, why would he appear as Damon? Did either of them see you Matt?" Jeremy asked.

"I'm pretty sure they didn't."

"So it wasn't to fool Matt. There's no reason for him to appear as Damon to anyone," Jeremy concluded.

"Look, I'm just taking a guess here. Silas is the only blood sucker we know who could survive within the town. And he coerced Bonnie before, so he might have done it again. But we won't know anything until we get into Mystic Falls and investigate. And that means bringing that spell down."

Elena whipped out her phone and immediately began punching in letters. "I'm texting Liv and Luke to meet us at the border. Something is obviously going on and we have to get in there."

Caroline returned to the group, a mask of concern covering her face. "The sooner, the better. My mom just told me that four more people have been reported missing. Two women from the other night who were supposed to show up for work but didn't. And a couple who were just reported. My mom said witnesses last saw them talking to a young man, with dark hair, black jeans and a black leather jacket."

Stefan and Elena exchanged knowing glances. Both experienced and shared the contrasts of hopefulness and despair colliding and exploding into a tangled mess—the desire of seeing Damon alive and returned to them contesting the fear that he had returned as his former self.

"We have to get in there now!" Elena mumbled, attempting to bring the quivering of her hands under control in order to complete her text message.

 _And Curiouser_

It was euphoric.

The warm, exquisite crimson life juice spewing out of the man's neck and into her eager, waiting mouth. The trembling but paralyzed body of her victim growing cold, the faint gurgling sound that emanated from his open mouth, signifying the sound of pain and death overtaking him, it all added further enjoyment to the experience. Valene bit further into his neck, trying to encourage more blood to flow out. But she had pretty much drunk him dry. She began vigorously licking around the open wound, like a child licking her plate clean of every last delicious remnant of sauce. In frustration, she ripped the man's arm off, brought the bloodied and amputated limb to her mouth, and began sucking on the stump. But it was no use. The blood was already going cold and was not flowing as abundantly as before.

"More!" Valene growled at Damon, the bottom half of her face bathed in blood.

"There is no more. But don't worry, sweetheart. You'll get all—"

"More! NOW!"

She vamp sped to Damon and began licking around his mouth. Like her, he had just finished feeding on the female victim, the other half of the pair that he had kidnapped from town. As she began licking, he began kissing. But she pulled away, her demon eyes wildly burning, searching everywhere for fresh blood. Valene's heightened senses suddenly picked up Bonnie's scent. She turned to her, growled and vamp sped towards her new victim.

Bonnie stood at the base of the pentagram on the ground. With one arm crossed and the other propping her head up, a finger curled under her chin, like The Thinker statue come to life, she remained pensive and silent. Valene's approach was lightning quick, a mere split second in time. Yet Bonnie casually lifted the hand that was under her chin and Valene's approach ceased immediately. She was frozen in place, unable to move. With another motion of Bonnie's hand, Valene suddenly began to levitate off the ground. Like a helium balloon slowly soaring skyward, Valene was powerless to stop her ascent. She spewed out curses and profanities, but in a language that no human could ever understand. Her ascent suddenly stopped and she hung in the air like a parade float, helpless and incensed.

With another casual wave of her hand, Bonnie launched Valene through the air, covering the length of a football field. Bonnie monitored Valene's trajectory, realizing that she would hit the Traveler spell wall at some point. Indeed, Valene did—and bounced off of it. Almost comically, she came down, crashing through branches and tree limbs, hitting the ground, breaking one arm and puncturing her lung. She remained motionless on the ground for some time.

"Hmm!" Bonnie sounded, as someone who saw a curious, yet insignificant thing.

"A bit harsh, don't you think?" Damon asked, walking up behind Bonnie who resumed her contemplative pose.

"I thought that it was perhaps those of us from the Abyss who could not bypass the Traveler spell wall. Seems we were wrong," Bonnie said. She glanced over at Valene's body in the distance and then returned her gaze to the pentagram. "Get her under control, will you? We don't have time for such distractions."

"I keep telling you, you don't know what it's like. The sheer bliss of it all."

Bonnie turned to Damon and faked a smile. "I am well aware of it. But we need this body alive and as a witch to get what we need to get done. I'm leaving it to you to control our new cohort."

Damon turned his head towards the new sound that he had heard. He picked up Valene recovering, snapping her bones back into place, her lungs rapidly healing themselves. "Speaking of which, she is not supposed to be the only one. Why isn't the doorway opening to the Abyss?"

"It's this Traveler spell. It's creating too much interference. The doorway is unstable."

"We made it through."

"Barely. But there seems to be another factor. Another—force—appears to be influencing the Abyss. Our former Lord, maybe?"

Damon looked skyward. "Which one? The High Enemy or—"

"I can't tell. But only one of them can influence Tartarus," Bonnie replied, also looking skyward. "The one who created it for us."

Valene returned and stopped right beside Bonnie. Bonnie glared at her, and Valene hung her head in seeming submission. Bonnie didn't need to lecture her on her mistake.

"And now," Bonnie said to her, "what do you call yourself?"

"This body is addressed as Valene," she replied in the woman's voice.

"Valene. So be it. How did your—companion—the pharmaceutical CEO get out? What was his power?"

"I don't know. I was not privy to such knowledge."

Bonnie sneered. She turned away from Valene and back to the pentagram.

"But, if you're seeking magical help," Valene offered, "we expect it to arrive any day now."

"Magical help?" Damon asked.

"Your arrival has been expected and anticipated, and your plans from two millennia ago were not forgotten. There are those of us who have sought to help you, even before your return. And in that, we have secured the daughter from the line of Elymas. The Sorceress will come."

"Excellent!" exclaimed Bonnie. "And what of others like you who have found a home. Will they join us as you did?"

"We cannot say. Anticipation has caused dissension. And you know that the Master does not tolerate that."

Bonnie chuckled. "No, he does not. When does the Sorceress come?"

Valene bowed her head in apparent guilt. "I don't know."

"Well, you don't know much now, do you?!" Bonnie replied, crossly.

"Okay, enough!" Damon intervened. "What about the Abyss? Can we bring any others over?"

"We can perhaps bring one or two possessed at a time. The doorway won't allow for any more than that. Until the Traveler spell is brought down the doorway may be erratic, at best."

"Then we'll be selective as to who we bring over," Damon responded. "In the meantime, let us see to bringing this spell down. We need to find Elena and Stefan. The problem is, they could be anywhere outside of Mystic Falls."

"How do we go about finding them? We cannot escape this town," Valene asked.

"There are other ways." Bonnie extended her arm. A few seconds later, a screech owl fluttered from out of the darkened trees and perched itself on her forearm. Bonnie's demon eyes shined intensely into the owl's eyes for a few seconds, after which the owl flew off into the darkness of night.

"We'll be alerted to their location soon enough," Bonnie said, cocking her head to the side and grinning maniacally. She suddenly started snapping her fingers in slow tempo and began to sing.

"Reunited and it feels so good…"

 _Under Pressure_

The distant sound of the Mystic Falls clock tower striking midnight preceded the multiple sounds of engines descending upon the sleepy town. It was the headlights that shone brightly on him that stirred Luke awake, causing him to nearly topple over while leaning on the Mystic Falls Welcome sign. As he regained his balance, he rubbed his eyes and yawned, clearing the sleepy haze from his consciousness. He noted a car, a pickup truck and a person on a motorcycle slowing their descent. As soon as all the vehicles stopped, multiple people, Elena being the first, got out and began to approach him. He couldn't help but feel somewhat uncomfortable, as though he was a Salem witch caught up in the clutches of an angry Puritan mob.

"Where's Liv?" Elena asked, looking around.

"Wow! No—'Hey! Thanks for coming out in the middle of the night on such short notice to meet with us. Yeah, we know it's a bit of a drive and that we've been pestering you non-stop about this, but really, thanks for coming out!'— words of greeting?" Luke asked, unimpressed.

Elena sighed and shot him a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry Luke. We do appreciate you coming out. But there's been a new development and we need that spell brought down, ASAP! Have you and Liv figured anything out yet?"

"No. Why? What's happened?"

"There's been some people disappearing in town, "Stefan said. "We think it might be supernaturally related. So we need a solution and we need one now!"

"Why do you think it's supernaturally related, these disappearances?" Luke asked.

Elena glanced at Stefan and the others, silently agreeing that they didn't want Luke to know too much about what Matt had seen. "We—we just have a hunch. So have you got anything?"

Luke shifted uncomfortably in his place. "I'm sorry, but Liv and I have looked over old grimoires, we've asked the eldest in our covens about Traveler magic, we've asked nearby covens as well and nobody knows anything that could help bring that spell down."

Elena turned around in frustration, rubbing her hand against her forehead. She briefly looked up and saw Abby.

"What about any dark magic?" Elena asked, turning around to face Luke. "Do you or your coven know anything about that?"

"Elena!" Abby cried.

"I'm sorry, Abby, but we're out of options and out of time," Elena pleaded. "You said that Traveler magic might run along the same avenues as black magic. That might be our only way to affect this spell and bring it down!"

Abby shook her head and looked away, a mixture of disapproval and displeasure painted across her face.

Alaric noted her irritation and spoke up. "She's right. We have no other options."

Abby looked back at Elena and then turned away, resigned to knowing that her voice was not going to dissuade anyone.

"So what about it, Luke? What about using black magic or something like Expression to bring the spell down?" Elena asked.

"Expression?! Oh, sure…good luck finding a practitioner who isn't dead or exiled by the witching community to come and do that for you," Luke replied. "Because those two fates have awaited any witch stupid enough to follow in Silas' footsteps!"

"If not Expression, then something else," Stefan said, "because we think it might be Silas himself who is wandering around Mystic Falls, kidnapping people and feeding on them. If it is him, then he has to be stopped!"

"Look, I want to help, I really do," Luke said, throwing his hands up in resignation. "But I don't practice that kind of magic. Neither does Liv. And we're not going to start now. And I don't know of anyone who—" It was for a split second at most, the pause in his speech, as if he suddenly remembered someone, but he finished his sentence hoping that no one had noticed. "—might know anything that dark."

The pause did not go unnoticed.

"Wait, Luke. Do you know anyone?" Elena interrogated.

"No—no! I don't, I—"

Istas vamp sped to Luke, grabbed him by the front of his jacket and lifted him off the ground with one arm. In a tone that wasn't threatening or aggressive in the slightest, as though she were merely asking him for directions, Istas calmly spoke to Luke. "Let me ask you something, pretty boy. You're an intelligent young man, aren't you? And you realize that it's very difficult to walk without knees?"

Abby stepped forward to interfere but was waved off by Alaric. Everyone else nervously stood by as they watched Luke dangle in the air by Istas' hand.

"My—*gak*—my former—teacher—she—she might—know—"

Istas had heard enough and dropped Luke, who crumpled to the ground. He stayed on all fours for a few seconds, his coughing and panting joining the nighttime choir of sounds, from crickets chirping to small rodents foraging in the grass and shrubs, to a nearby owl hooting before flying off into the night. The others stood by silently, unsure whether to help Luke up or leave him as he was.

Luke finally stood up and glared at Istas, then at Elena and then Caroline. "Well, it's nice to know the Bully Club has inducted a new member! Can't tell you how happy that makes me!"

Caroline and Elena guiltily looked away while Istas crossed her arms and grinned. Elena finally stepped forward to talk to Luke. "We're really sorry, Luke. But we're desperate now. If there's people missing in Mystic Falls, we can't just stand idly by and do nothing. This former teacher of yours…do you think she could help?"

Luke dusted himself off and gave Elena a glance of both sympathy and annoyance. "I don't know. She's been in Europe for the past five years. She's one of our coven's most versatile witches, and specializes in the study of ancient magic so she might know something. Emphasis on the word 'might!' I'm not promising anything."

"That's okay. That's—that's fine," Elena replied smiling, sensing that they had pushed Luke as far as he was willing to go. "Whatever you can do."

Luke straightened his jacket and pulled out his cell phone. "Hopefully, she hasn't left town yet." He walked away from the group, dialing Nisha's number.

"So what do we do in the meantime?" asked Caroline. "Are we just going to sit here and wait outside of town?"

"Jeremy and I can go into town and start investigating," Matt said. "See if we can find out who or what is causing these disappearances and find out if it is Silas and Bonnie. Maybe we can help free Bonnie from his control."

A look of worry appeared on Elena's face. "I'm fine with you going into town and investigating, but I don't like you trying to save Bonnie on your own."

"Hey! I can handle it," Jeremy retorted, stepping forward. "I am a Hunter after all!"

"Not inside there you're not!" Elena argued. "You lose your Hunter powers the second you cross that border. And that means losing your ability to keep Silas out of your head. We have no idea what powers he still has. If he has the power to control other people, you two are going to be seriously outnumbered!"

"She's right, Jer," said Alaric. "You shouldn't try to engage Silas until we can come in and help you."

"I said I can handle it! Who knows if Luke's teacher can even help us? Matt and I are the only ones who can go into Mystic Falls and do something about Silas, right now! You guys can't! You have to trust me."

Alaric and Elena exchanged knowing glances at each other.

"We don't, Jer," replied Alaric. "You haven't given us a reason to."

Jeremy shook his head in disappointment and disbelief. "Okay, you know what? Both of you can go and f—"

"We'll stick to investigating," interjected Matt while placing his hand on Jeremy's shoulder, sensing the oncoming atmosphere of hostility. "We'll call up Tyler too and see what we can find out. We'll keep a low profile and won't engage Silas, we promise."

Alaric glared at Jeremy, and then looked at Matt and nodded his approval. "Let us know the instant you discover something about what's going on."

"Go and see my mom while you're at it," said Caroline. "She might have discovered something new as well."

Matt nodded and he and Jeremy headed towards Matt's truck. They almost made it until they heard Istas pointing out something in the distance within Mystic Falls.

"Hey! Do you guys know those three coming up the road?" Istas asked, pointing out two women and a man walking towards their group.

For a time, the trio walked within the shade of the trees so that they looked almost indistinguishable from the shadows the trees were casting. As soon as the trio stepped out from the shadows and into bright moonlight, approaching ever closer to them all at the border, the group stood in collective disbelief.

"Damon!?" Elena gasped.


	6. TVD S6 - Part 1 Ch6

_The Second Front_

"I understand Lucas. I'll check with what I have here and will be awaiting your phone call. Goodbye."

Nisha placed her cell on the ledge of the Jacuzzi and reclined her head back. She lifted one leg out of the water, like a brontosaurus raising its head out of a lagoon, letting the water slowly cascade off of her smooth, auburn skin.

"It seems like Elena and her friends are growing desperate," she said. "They're wondering if I know of any black magic that could bring that spell down."

The man took his glasses off and lay them on the hotel night stand. He began removing his clothes as Nisha stared at him from the tub. Despite their soiled and putrid condition, he folded his clothes neatly on the bed, stacked them and placed them on the hotel desk.

"It's not time to bring the spell down. Not just yet," he said. His words were curt and robotic, as though he had to say them as quickly yet as clearly as he could. His voice was even, a perfect balance of treble and bass. The tone was devoid of emotion or mood, making it difficult for anyone to determine his emotional state based on the sound of his voice alone.

Nisha watched as he walked over in the nude to the nightstand to pour himself a shot of whiskey. He was short in stature, with a protruding pot belly, patches of light, curly hair covering various parts of his pale, white skin all over his body, including his stomach, back and legs. His bald head, with grey hair growing wildly around the sides and back, matched the unkempt look of his scraggly beard. Even from where she was, she could tell that he hadn't bathed in days, the stench of his body odour reaching her nostrils, already making her slightly wretch. She hated that he would always choose to come to her in such a condition. But she knew that he only did it because she hated it so.

"I've got some items—relics—that will help the doppelganger and her friends in their quest to enter Mystic Falls," he said, downing a shot of whiskey and then pouring himself another glass. "But they are a temporary fix. Your apprentice had better absorb that grimoire fast!"

"Olivia will be ready soon. I have faith in her. Am I to assume that you would like her to eventually bring the spell down?"

He downed the second glass of whiskey. "Eventually. But not yet. The—separatists—need to be kept in check. Once Olivia gains more power, she can affect a better barrier."

Reaching for her own glass of whiskey that she had beside the Jacuzzi, Nisha took a sip and leaned back again. "It's rather ironic, isn't it? You and your Father on the same side in this?"

The moment the words slipped out of her mouth, she wished she took take them back. It was her habit of getting too comfortable with him that contributed to her constant downfalls, to her constantly being punished for her transgressions. It was so easy to take him for being just an ordinary man. But he was not ordinary, and that is what excited her…and terrified her.

The man put his glass down and walked towards Nisha in the Jacuzzi. She tried to gauge his emotional state, to determine whether he was angry or disappointed. She couldn't read anything. His face was a mask, shrouding any and all hints as to his thoughts and feelings. Nisha was proud of the fact that she could read almost any man, and thus manipulate them to achieve her objectives. If she couldn't read his face, then she could read his eyes. It was the proverbial window into his soul. Very rarely had she come across a man that she had to delve that deep into him to read his thoughts, but there was no man alive that she couldn't read.

And yet, she couldn't read this one. His deep set, parallel downward eyes that made him look like he was constantly sad or depressed juxtaposed the sensation one got from looking into them. It was like looking into the eyes of a serial killer. Nisha had experienced that before, having been attacked once in Portugal by a crazed murderer, his eyes staring through her instead of at her, devoid of any love or mercy, as though she were a pesky mosquito that needed to be squashed. Looking into this man's eyes, it brought the same feelings. It excited her, but it made her fear for her soul because she knew why she couldn't read him…why there was no love or compassion or humanity in his eyes.

Regardless, Nisha moved over to the side of the Jacuzzi as the man arrived at the edge. Looking up, she ran her hands up his thighs while looking into his peerless eyes. "I'm sorry, Master. I didn't mean to—"

His face would not betray his intentions. There were no cues whatsoever that precipitated his attack. Nisha suddenly found herself lifted up out of the water with his right hand around her throat. She struggled in the air, gasping for breath as her legs dangled, occasionally bouncing off of his fat belly, grasping at his arm that effortlessly held her up. He stiffened the fingers of his left hand and jabbed them under her rib cage, hitting her kidney. She yelped in response. Soon, she began whimpering while panting and squirming, the pain of his fingers stabbing into her quickly becoming unbearable. He flung her to the floor, causing her to land hard on her right knee. Her slick, black hair spread across the tiles like an oil spill in the ocean. She sobbed while gasping for breath, clutching at her ribs where he had jabbed her with his hand.

The man knelt down beside her and gently pushed aside her wet hair that was covering her face. "Shhh, my child. Talking to me like that. You knew what lavish punishments that would bring you. Such as sick, little slut! You've always been…and always will be!"

He aggressively grabbed her hair, standing up while simultaneously pulling her up off the floor. He shoved her face into his unwashed and unkempt groin. "If you think me such an ordinary man, then it's time to do your duty, woman! But you know my rewards are equally lavish for those who please me!"

The man began cackling in a voice that suddenly didn't match the one he had been using before.

 _The Barriers Between Us_

The trio walked gingerly to the border of Mystic Falls. Damon had a smile on his face, like the Cheshire Cat baffling poor Alice with conversation. Bonnie's smile, which was more of a smirk, was not so gleeful yet no less present. Hers was like an experienced prostitute stumbling upon a privileged teenage boy, who had all the money in the world but no power to resist her sexual advances. Valene was the more reserved of the three, an imperceptible grin on her face, signifying her relishing in the upcoming deceit all three were going to play.

Like a child at an airport who suddenly saw her father who was away for months on military deployment, Elena ran towards Damon, unconsciously employing her vamp speed. Alaric zoomed over to intercept her before she crossed the border, almost toppling backwards into Mystic Falls himself as her momentum was more than he had expected. He found his footing and held her at bay while she maintained her eyes on Damon.

The rest of the group edged closer to Alaric and Elena's position as the trio moved closer to the border as well, looking like two armies lining up to each other hoping to negotiate a peace before they descended into war.

"Damon?! Is it—is it really you?" Elena asked, happy tears cascading down her face as her hand reached around Alaric's body and into Mystic Falls.

"Of course it's me!" Damon replied, his familiar swagger on full display. "Let me show you!"

He grabbed Elena's hand and rapidly pulled her away from Alaric's grasp into Mystic Falls, into his embrace. He began kissing her harshly and awkwardly. Elena struggled under his grip and kiss, her mind suddenly aware that she had crossed the no-magic boundary while also aware that she was indeed in Damon's warm embrace. Her emotions were a swirl of contradictions, feeling panic and relief, anxiety and excitement, desire and hesitation.

Her emotions began to quiet down as she became comfortable, relaxed in Damon's familiar presence. Yet there was something off. She couldn't pin down what it was. While Damon exhibited the same passion that he always had with her, she felt it slightly different. For some reason, her mind immediately went to the moment when Klaus compelled Stefan to turn off his humanity and feed on her. Stefan's passion for her blood was profound. She couldn't help but feel Damon's passion to be equally—menacing.

She tried to put the thought out of her mind and focus on Damon's kiss until she started to wretch, the Traveler spell removing the vampire magic that sustained her life, causing her to vomit up water and saliva as she started to choke, recreating her dying moments as a human being.

Damon continued to hold her, staring at her with both interest and amusement as Elena literally began drowning in his arms.

"Damon!" Stefan bellowed. "DAMON! GET HER BACK HERE!"

Though he continued to smile, Damon's annoyance was obvious. He callously shoved Elena back over the border into Alaric and Stefan. She knelt down on the pavement, coughing and wheezing as she tried to recapture her breath, her vampire powers restoring her health. Stefan and Alaric tended to her, with Stefan looking up at his big brother with confusion and incredulity.

"Hey, what can I say, little brother?" Damon said, shrugging. "I thought she'd be fine here. I'm mean, I'm lookin' and feelin' fine myself!"

Bonnie noted the looks of bewilderment on all of their faces and elbowed Damon in his stomach before giving her friends a reassuring smile. "Don't mind him. He's suffering from a form of mystical jet lag. Our journey through the collapse of the Other Side over to here has not been easy. It's been messing with our heads a bit. You'll have to excuse us if we don't seem—ourselves."

Caroline walked up to Bonnie, smiling and teary eyed. "We're just happy to see you again! We thought we'd lost you for good. How did you get out of there? Matt said that there was something sucking up all the people on the Other Side."

"It's good to see you too, Caroline. The explanation is a lot of magical mumbo jumbo that you wouldn't understand," Bonnie said, condescension dripping off her words. "Suffice to say, my Grams was able to use her powers to return us here."

"Your Grams? Maybe you can explain all that magical mumbo jumbo to me," Abby said, stepping out from behind the others to stand in front of Bonnie.

"Mother!?" Bonnie said, coldly. "You're an unexpected factor."

"Excuse me?" Abby replied, astonished.

Bonnie blinked, and then flashed a wide smile. The change from one face to another was eerily quick—too quick for Abby's liking.

"I mean…I'm happy to see you again!" Bonnie resumed. "I just wasn't expecting you to be here. I thought you were still—away." The derisiveness on the last word was felt.

"I—I was. But then I heard about the Other Side collapsing and heard about you and your Grams being stuck over there and—"

"An exaggeration, mother! How many times have I died for these people and have come back?" Bonnie asked, the passive-aggressive tone being aimed at the group was unmistakable. "Death has no power of us!"

"Us?!" Abby asked, bewildered.

"I mean me, of course! Heh, heh!" Bonnie flashed an embarrassed grin. She looked over at Damon and Valene and then gave another wide eyed smile. "Or maybe I mean 'us.' After all, we're all here!"

Elena stood up, having recovered. "And who is your new companion?" she asked, sizing up Valene.

"Oh her?" Damon responded. Perfectly mimicking the voice and mannerisms of Al Pacino, Damon introduced Valene. "This—this here is a friend of ours. Meet Valene!" All three spontaneously erupted in laughter while Elena and the others looked on in bafflement.

"Ahhh…sorry," Bonnie said, switching from laughing to serious in an instant. "As I said, we're a bit disoriented from our ordeal."

"No—no, that's—that's understandable," Elena said, smiling uncomfortably. "But seeing as how we can't get in, why don't you guys come out?"

"Well, that's the thing," Bonnie responded. "My Grams essentially put each of us in a pocket of what's left of the Other Side. But the Traveler spell is messing with it. We can't cross outside of Mystic Falls. Go figure!"

"So, you're stuck in there while we're stuck out here?" Elena lamented, looking at Damon.

"Maybe not. We have an idea to bring the spell down, but we need the blood of the doppelgangers who helped create it. In other words, yours and Stefan's," Bonnie said.

"Speaking of blood," said Matt, glaring at Damon, "I was wondering about that couple you killed in the alley behind Mystic Falls the other night. Seems like coming back has given you quite the appetite!"

Damon walked over to stand opposite to Matt. "Well, well, well…look who's been a busy little eaves dropper! What's the matter, Donovan? Don't approve of my dining habits?"

"Not when it involves multiple innocent residents of Mystic Falls!" retorted Matt.

"It was a momentary lapse of control, Matt," interjected Bonnie. "Damon needed to feed and we couldn't get to some blood bags. That's all!"

"And the other victims?" asked Alaric.

Damon smiled and walked over to Alaric. "Buuuddddddyyyy! I'm back not five minutes and already the judgements have started?"

"You didn't answer my question, Damon," replied Alaric.

"What other victims are you talking about?" asked Bonnie.

"We heard about other victims," Elena chimed in. "We thought that it might have been Silas since he was an immortal who fed on blood too."

"Silas?" Bonnie queried. A flash of inspiration seemed to come over her as she looked at Damon and smiled. "Yes—yes, Silas! That miserable little traitor! He vowed revenge and so it must be him that's killing all these people! We have to find him and stop him."

While Alaric's face highlighted his confusion, Elena breathed relief as she looked at Damon. "I knew it couldn't be you."

"You know me so well, babe!" Damon replied, flashing his trademark smirk.

"So? How about it? Spare any of the red stuff?" Bonnie asked.

"Of course," Elena responded, glancing at Stefan. "How much do you need?"

"Before you do, I'd like to know the spell that you're going to be using to bring Traveler spell down," said Luke, breaking through the crowd after having observed the conversation from afar. "After all, my coven and every other coven I've talked to couldn't offer any solutions to bringing that spell down. And now, lo and behold, you come here and have an answer?"

"Glory be…if it isn't one half of the Wonder Twins," Damon said snidely.

"Trust me, Luke! There are secrets one learns from the Other Side. I know what I'm doing," Bonnie replied, seemingly insulted at Luke's scepticism.

"No doubt. But I'm just saying—we were all talking about how traditional magic can't work in there, and that perhaps the darkest magic might. Magic like Expression maybe? You're not seriously thinking of using something like that? And especially if Silas is in there with you, can you afford to risk using something that he could use to get free?"

Bonnie closed her eyes and shook her head, a snarl appearing on her lips. "I am not interESTED IN YOUR INEPT OPINION, CHILD! WE WANT TO BE FREE!"

Caroline, Elena and Matt stood in astonishment and disbelief, having never seen their friend possess a face of pure hatred and malice.

In a flash, as if Bonnie's face were a television screen and someone had changed the channel, her face reverted back to a calm demeanor. "Heh, heh, heh…I'm so sorry! The spell my Gram used is making us a little agitated. I understand your concern, Luke. But I as I said, we've learned things that can help us."

Luke kept his composure resolute and steady, unfazed by Bonnie's grotesque outburst. "Nonetheless, it might not be a bad idea to let me and Liv in on the spell. Maybe we can confirm if it's safe to use. Maybe we can even help you with it from out here. We wouldn't want you to do anything that could jeopardize your safety, or the safety of those in Mystic Falls."

Valene suddenly started walking towards to Luke. "You! Your—your sister. Olivia? Where is she?"

"What? How—how do you know my sister?"

Valene cocked her head to the side, glaring at Luke like a scientist glaring at a specimen. "We've heard of her."

"How?"  
"Okay, this is all very fascinating but we've got a spell to bring down and blood to collect," Damon interjected.

"I think the pretty boy here is right," Istas said, walking up to the trio. "You don't want to be using a spell that could do more damage than good."

"Whoa…stop the presses! Who is this fine female gracing us with her presence?" Damon said smiling while looking Istas up and down, oblivious to the look of disapproval and displeasure on Elena's face.

"No one you need to worry about there, Mr. Versace Model. Just someone who likes keeping the peace around here."

"Well, as long as we're exchanging pet nicknames, why don't we cook up something for you? How about—our Little Red Prairie Flower? Seems rather, fitting don't ya think?" Damon asked with a wink.

It had been decades since someone could leave her speechless, but that's exactly what Damon had done. Istas stood frozen, her entire body tingling, her head throbbing, shock immobilizing every part of her being. Her confidence, her bravado, her defiance all disappeared in an instant. When she could finally move, she took a step back, all the while staring at Damon who maintained both his grin and his eye contact with her.

The connection was broken by Jeremy who stood in front of Istas. "I think they're both right. I think we should wait before giving you any of Elena and Stefan's blood."

Even though Damon continued smiling, his aggravation was brutally perceptible. "Ahhhh…little Gilbert! Do you mind? Adults are having a talk here!"

"Jeremy—honey! Don't you want to be with me? Don't you want to save me?" Bonnie pleaded.

Jeremy crossed the town border and walked up to Bonnie. He looked deep into her eyes, and began caressing the side of her face. "I'm not affected by the Traveler spell. I can be with you. And of course I want to save you. But I saw what Silas did to you. I don't want him to hurt you or anyone else again. I love you too much to let that happen. Don't you love me enough to trust me?"

It was a hunch on his part, to try and touch that part of Bonnie that he recognized, because he now knew the woman who stood before him that called herself Bonnie was not the Bonnie he knew. But he wondered if the real Bonnie was still in there somewhere. He held her gaze and continued to stroke her cheek. He focused on her face, focused on the smoothness of her skin, the lightness of her hair. Before he crossed the border, Bonnie and Damon looked slightly different than they looked after they crossed over. They looked more worn out, as though they hadn't slept in days, while their companion, Valene, still looked completely normal. Yet once inside the town limits, Bonnie and Damon looked like Valene, as fresh as the morning dew. He tried to put aside these differences that he was noticing and focused on Bonnie's face so as to bring his rapid heartbeat down. Even though, within the Traveler spell, his Hunter instincts disappeared, his human instincts did not. He could sense the danger around him. Two vampires were within striking range. One he did not know and the other he clearly did not trust. And he couldn't trust Bonnie. But Jeremy pressed forward, continuing to gently and lovingly stroke Bonnie's cheek.

The atmosphere around all of them suddenly changed. Not in any visible or tangible way, but the change was undeniable. The sudden feeling of another presence among them was intense. Whether it was one or several entities that they felt suddenly joining them, none of them could tell. But there was definitely some new intelligence among them that none of them were sure if it had been there all along and they simply hadn't noticed it, like a background noise that they just suddenly decided to focus on. Whatever the new presence was, it was radiating extremely forceful sentiments.

Indignation!

Insult!

Revulsion!

Elena and her friends observed as Damon and Valene began to flank Bonnie on either side, all three of them staring at Jeremy. Even though the three of them were of different ethnicities and skin colour, the blank, expressionless looks on their faces they all shared made it seem like they were all related somehow.

Their looks unnerved Alaric. It wasn't so much the look as it was the eyes that reminded him of a jungle cat that was ready to pounce on its prey at any moment. It was the same feeling he had when Istas and Elena were standing toe to toe. And as he stared on, he realized he couldn't help Jeremy now that he was across the border. He tried to calm his nerves but noticed his own fingers begin to jitter uncontrollably.

As Bonnie stared back into Jeremy's eyes, she slowly pulled his hand away from her face. She smiled the smile that Damon and Valene had slowly began to put on as well. "You are a stubborn bunch! Have it your way then." She stepped out from in front of Jeremy and looked at both Elena and Stefan. "Just remember—there is no telling when the spell my Grams put on us is going to expire. Within here, we are vulnerable. And the minute it goes, so does he!" she warned, pointing to Damon who winked at Elena and Stefan. With a worried look on her face, Elena glanced at Stefan, who stood with an unwavering expression.

Bonnie gazed back at Jeremy with a look of admiration mixed with disgust, as though Jeremy had made a move on the chess board that was both brilliant and disgraceful at the same time. "So sorry to cut this short, my love, but these two haven't fed in a while and need some—sustenance. Non-living, of course!"

"I–I have some blood bags in the car if you need some," stammered Matt, trying to disrupt the façade that they were pushing on all of them.

The trio gleamed at Matt with obvious annoyance. Damon finally flashed a smile at him. "No need, Donovan. I somehow think your brand just won't cut it. But thanks for the offer!"

As the trio turned to leave, Elena shouted at Damon "When will I see you again?"

Damon turned around and sauntered towards Elena. He put his right hand up against the Traveler wall, pushing against it which caused his hand to tremble. He looked deep into her eyes and reassured her "Worry not, my love. We'll be together soon. And forever! Besides, you have something…that I want!" Damon scanned her body up and down.

Elena reached up to touch his hand when Stefan swiftly grabbed her arm and stepped in between them.

"Here, brother. Take this so that we can reach you, and you can reach us," Stefan said, tossing Damon his cell phone. Damon caught it, examined it for a time and then peered up at Stefan, flashing his classic smirk.

"Triangles! Ya gotta love 'em! Thank you, brother. Looking out for me as always. I promise to return the favour!"

Damon turned and began walking back into town with Bonnie and Valene. Elena tried to say something to Stefan but he put his finger to his lips to call her and everyone else to silence, knowing that Damon and Valene could hear their conversations. He figured that if Bonnie and Damon had thought that Stefan and the rest had bought into their performance, he didn't want to let on that just the opposite was true, that none of them bought what Bonnie and Damon were selling.

With perhaps the exception of one.

 _Blind Eye_

Tyler sat in the squad car, staring blankly out the passenger window as it zoomed along the highway, making its way back into Mystic Falls. It was well into the early morning, the dark blue of the night sky sprinkled with highly visible stars, the morning sun hinting at its arrival to anyone who focused on the horizon hard enough. And it was an exercise that Tyler found himself doing, since staring at darkened trees along the road wasn't exactly stimulating his imagination. If anything, it was pushing his mind back to focusing on the mess that he had gotten himself into.

"You haven't touched your coffee and sandwich, Tyler. You really should eat something. It's not good for you to go so long without eating," Liz said, her blue eyes glancing sideways to him before gazing back towards the road.

Her motherly attitude served to highlight just how much he missed his own mother, how much he missed having someone in his life to turn to in his time of need. It was a feeling he had already felt while being held by the Whitmore campus police department. When asked to phone a family member or guardian or even a lawyer, someone who needed to know about his situation, he realized he had no one. Not his mother or his father. Not Uncle Mason. He thought about Caroline, but felt awkward if not ashamed to be phoning her from the campus police station. He tried calling Jeremy and Matt, but neither was answering their phones. He even briefly thought of phoning Liv, but thought better of it since he didn't want to ruin whatever progress they had already made in their promising relationship.

It was seemingly by sheer luck that Sheriff Liz happened to be passing through the campus station to speak to the head of the department when she saw him there. She was the one who vouched for his release and suggested he return to Mystic Falls with her rather than remain on campus, lest any of the other football players decided to seek revenge on him.

Tyler reached down and grabbed the sandwich that was nestled beside him and began unwrapping the cling foil. "I really do appreciate you helping me out with all of this, Liz."

"Well, lucky for you, the head of the college police department did her training with me back in the day. Otherwise, I don't think she would have trusted you with anyone to leave Whitmore and go back to Mystic Falls. Now, I've read the attending officer's account of what happened, but I'd like to hear your side of the story."

"What were you doing at Whitmore anyways?" Tyler asked, his question muffled by the bite of the sandwich he had just taken.

"Following up on a disappearance in Mystic Falls. A couple has gone missing and, after doing some digging around, found out that they were staff members at Whitmore. I was hoping to find something on them and maybe see the police chief in the process, even at this hour of the morning."

"Why? What's going on in Mystic Falls?"

"You don't need to worry about that. Now stop trying to change the subject and tell me what happened. Why did you attack that player?"

Tyler shifted in his seat and then took another bite of his sandwich. "I'd really rather not talk about it, Liz."

Liz sighed. "Tyler, you're up on some very serious assault and battery charges, with multiple witnesses saying you initiated the attack without provocation. That Malcolm kid is in the hospital right now in a coma with severe head trauma. His family has brought these charges against you and will upgrade them to manslaughter, or even second degree murder, if that kid doesn't pull through. In any event, you're looking at jail time and I can't help you if you don't talk to me."

Tyler put the sandwich down on his lap and stared up at the car ceiling. "Well, maybe I don't want your help. If that kid dies, maybe locking me up would be the best thing." Tyler suddenly began chuckling as he imagined himself in prison. "Of course, then I'd have to be transferred once a month to a kennel. Unless the prison guards don't mind taking me out for a walk every now and then! HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

Liz looked over at him incredulously. "Tyler! I don't think this is anything to be laughing about. And I don't understand what you're getting at."

"A wolf, Liz! If Malcolm dies, my werewolf gene kicks in and I become a wolf once a month! And just how do you think that's going to go with the prison guards and the warden, not to mention the other prisoners, when I start tearing them all up to shreds?! The secret will be out! I'll either be killed or experimented on. You know how these institution types like their experiments. Just ask Whitmore College and their Augustine Society!"

Liz shifted her glances from Tyler to the road. "Okay, you're jumping waaaaaaaaay ahead here. Malcolm isn't dead. He's just in a coma and the doctors say the prognosis looks fair, so much so that they've allowed him to be transferred to the Mystic Falls Hospital to be closer to his family. For right now, you just have to worry about the assault and battery charges. So tell me what happened. Why did you attack Malcolm?"

Tyler crossed his arms and stared outside his window again.

"Tyler…please! I want to help."

"Why?"

Liz sat silent momentarily. She glanced over at Tyler with a sympathetic look before turning her gaze back to the road. "Seeing what Markos did to you, killing you when he shoved you back into Mystic Falls—that broke my heart. Not only because I've known you since you were a child, but because of what your mother would have thought. How much that would have hurt her to see that. Every parental figure in the lives of you, Elena, Matt and Bonnie are all gone, and I suppose I feel somewhat responsible for all of you. And that's why I want to help."

"Well, maybe you can help by asking your friend, the Whitmore police chief, to drop the charges against me. Pull some strings, perhaps?"

Liz sighed. "Tyler! I can't just make this all go away. I can't just go and turn a blind eye to what you've done. You put a guy in the hospital! You nearly killed him. I can't just pretend that didn't happen!"

Tyler turned to Liz and gave an exasperated laugh. "Seriously?! What have you been doing these past few years but turn a blind eye? Look at how many vampire victims' deaths you've covered up in order to protect the ones you love!"

"That's different and you know it! The supernatural element involved in those cases requires me to keep the truth from civilians. I had to cover up the facts in those cases to protect the unsuspecting public. It's not pretty and I don't like doing it, but it is what it is."

"But I'm supernatural. What about me?"

"You said it yourself," responded Liz. "You're not a werewolf yet."

"And yet you and the Council were so dead set against vampires that you used to hunt them down. You still meted out 'justice,' until your daughter became a vampire. That's when justice became inconvenient."

"Tyler…I'm trying to help you. But throwing all this in my face isn't exactly endearing me to you right now!"

"Well, what do you expect me to say, Liz?" Tyler said, shrugging. "You're telling me that you can't turn a blind eye when that's all I've seen you do. And while I can perhaps understand doing so for Caroline or even Elena, doing that for Damon, after all that he's done, especially to your own daughter? It's laughable that you'd claim that you can't turn a blind eye in my case."

Liz's eyes blinked incessantly, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly while the blood rushed from her head to her hands. It took her a while to process what Tyler had just said. "What do you mean? What did Damon do to Caroline?"

Tyler shook his head and turned away, looking outside his window again. "Nothing. It doesn't matter."

"Tyler!"

He remained silent.

"Tyler! Tell me!"

"He used her, okay?! He used her as his own personal blood slave. Before she became a vampire, Damon would use her, feed on her, and do anything else that he wanted to her, and then compelled her to forget everything. She recalled all that he had done when she was turned and the compulsion was broken. But what does it matter? Given everything else he has done, all the people he's killed from Mystic Falls, does any of this really change your opinion of him?"

Tyler grabbed the cold cup of coffee, took a sip, set it down and then turned his shoulder towards the window, trying to get comfortable to get some sleep. He didn't feel like talking anymore.

Conveniently for him, neither did Liz, who wiped a tear away from her face.

 _Tampering_

Damon's eyes flew open.

His eyes darted from right to left, scanning the room, trying desperately to find her.

"Elena? ELENA!"

He tried to move his head but found he could only do so minimally. The brightness of the room had overwhelmed his eyes for a time, but he soon got used to it, and began to see familiar mirrors all around him.

"Awww, give me a break, will ya?!" Damon bellowed to no one in particular. At least, to no one that he knew of.

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to recapture the image that he had just seen flash in his mind's eye—that image of Elena in Mystic Falls, standing at the border, talking to him though he couldn't hear what she was saying.

The image was elusive. It seemed like a memory, but one that he himself hadn't experienced. It was a moment with Elena that he never had, but somehow had actually occurred. The image wouldn't hold still in his mind, nor did the emotions that were attached. He felt hope, relief, love and lust. Seeing those flashes of her were like seeing cracks of light in a darkened room—like wisps of clean air in a toxic chamber—like shards of jagged metal slicing his fingers as he ran his hand along her smooth skin.

Something was wrong. His emotions began changing. As the images of Elena became more steady, something inside of him, or outside of him but somehow inside of him, began feeling disgust, revulsion and abhorrence. A hatred for everything that was good that Damon felt for Elena when he saw her. Something was merging its own feelings with his. Soon, he too began to hate seeing her. He could see Elena's face, and he wanted to hurt her. He wanted to torture her. He wanted to rape her. He wanted to murder her. He wanted to see her destroyed! A brief flash of Elena choking while in his arms brought an immense and intense sense of satisfaction and gaiety to his mind.

"ELENA!"

His eyes flew open again. Breathing heavily this time, beads of sweat inexplicably forming on his body, he blinked incessantly, trying to rid the dark emotions he just felt from his mind.

"Bad dreams, Damon?"

"Bon Bon?" asked a perplexed Damon, glancing at her face in the ceiling mirror.

"Is anyone else as charming?" she replied with a smirk.

"Charming, if not unoriginal," Damon said, taking a deep intake of air, trying to get his breathing back to normal. He closed his eyes dejectedly, upset at being in the mirror room again. "Maybe try getting some better material."

"Well, looks like you woke up on the wrong side of the mirror! What were you seeing? Elena in Mystic Falls?"

Damon tried to ignore her, turning his head slightly away from her as best he could. Finally, he opened his eyes and looked back at her.

"And what if I did?"

"Well…it just means that we both perhaps were seeing the same thing," Bonnie said casually, almost depressingly.

"Really?" Damon asked, looking at her with skewered eyes. "Mine felt like memories…sort of."

"But memories of events and experiences you've never had before?"

Damon turned to her with a slight look of amazement. "Yeah! You too?"

Bonnie nodded her confirmation. "Thing is, I think they were our memories. At least, our bodies' memories."

"How do you know that?"

Bonnie shrugged. "A feeling. Somehow, it feels like these memories were implanted, along with emotions that I've never felt before. Really bad emotions."

Damon stared straight for a moment. "Ya know, in the vision I had of Elena, instead of wanting to hold her and kiss her and love her, I found myself wanting to kill her. Not me but something or someone else was beside me who wanted all of that and was somehow convincing me to feel the same."

Bonnie closed her eyes. "I felt the same thing. But for Jeremy."

"Well, we all felt that for Jeremy, even before this!" Damon said, smiling.

Bonnie opened her eyes again. "Damon! That's not funny! Especially when YOU'VE tried to kill him multiple times!"

"I've killed a lot of people, Bon Bon. Killing isn't such a big deal to me these days. You tend to get numb to it after doing it a few times."

"Don't give me that! First of all, I don't think you're numb to it. Secondly, we're talking about Elena's little brother who she—"

"Yes, her precious little brother who she has to take care of and watch over and protect and baby sit and show right from wrong and be an example to and put before herself because that's what older siblings do!"

Bonnie looked at him askew in the mirror. "Is that what it's all about? Some kind of transference nonsense? You hate Jeremy because of your issues with Stefan?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "Please Bonnie! Don't try and play psychoanalyst with me. You're in no position to judge…only child!"

"I don't need a degree to know that you're just petty. Holding on to this ridiculous jealousy of your brother for over 150 years! I knew you to be immature but you keep surprising me over and over again."

"Jealousy? Over Stefan?!"

"You just alluded to it. He was the favoured child that you always had to put before yourself. He was the one that Elena picked before you. He was the one Katherine picked instead of you. He's the one that had the strength of will to fight his vampire nature that you never did."

"He's also the one who single-handedly massacred an entire village in Mexico! Believe me, there are some things of his that I never wanted."  
Bonnie lay silent momentarily, pondering on Stefan. "You know…somehow I think you do."

"What?"

"Stefan and his reputation. His notoriety. The famous 'Ripper of Monterrey!' For all the people you've killed, for all the embracing of the vampire life that you did, you never achieved that kind of fame."

"I wouldn't want that kind of fame!" Damon answered indignantly. "Do you know how many amateur vampire hunters went after Stefan over the years? Sorry, but I quite like to dine in peace, thank you very much!"

"No…no, you're jealous. I'm sure of it now. You'd love to throw that kind of history in someone's face, to let people know just how bad you are. To let people know that you're Damon Salvatore, the bad brother! To let Stefan keep his good brother status so you can wallow in self-pity," Bonnie said, the words coming through as though she was suddenly given a stream of inspiration or information. It was as though she was suddenly empathic, if only slightly, to Damon's thoughts and feelings, though she didn't know why or how.

Damon began laughing. "Self-pity? Me? Over what? Hell, I can look in these mirrors and I'm amazed at—"

"It's not on the outside that I'm talking about. It's on the inside. Yes, you're quite the catch, Damon. No question about that. But you've been rejected time and time and time again by the people you want the most, be it Elena or Katherine or even your own family, like your father. You don't think all that rejection would have an effect on you? That's why you go out of your way to sabotage the relationship with the one person who never rejected you and who was always trying to save you and draw you in and you end up hurting him and pushing him away for that."

"Enough!" Damon roared. "This isn't Therapy Time with Bonnie Bennett! I like myself just fine. And as for Stefan? He's my baby bro and I love him…doesn't mean I always have to like him."

Laughter suddenly rained down on the both of them. It was the same laughter that they both had heard before.

"Good. Good!" echoed a unisex voice. "Jealousy—hatred—anger. Let these be your mantra. Let these overwhelm you. Let these define you!"

A black shape suddenly appeared before the both of them. It was the same shape that had attacked Damon before, but this time, it grabbed Bonnie by the throat and lifted her off the floor.

"Let…*gah*…let…go of…me!"

"Insolent maggot!" chided the Warden. "How do you keep getting out of your cage and wandering in together? A mystery…one that we enjoy leaving unsolved as it means you suffer punishment from us just the same!"

"Hey! HEY!" bellowed Damon. "You want someone to play with, take me! Leave her alone!"

"We don't want you," replied the Warden.

"But we do!" Katherine suddenly interjected, naked and straddling herself on top of Damon's hips.

"Get off of me!"

"Really Damon? You're getting upset? Over her?" Katherine asked, pointing to Bonnie who was still in the Warden's grip. "Since when did you develop a soft spot for her, hmmmm?"

"I said get off of me! Let that thing take me instead."

"Why choose, when we can do both! Besides, you may have a soft spot for her," Katherine said grinning, slowly running her hand down to Damon's groin. "But you certainly have a hard spot for me!"

She bared her fangs and bit into Damon's neck, blocking his view of the Warden walking away into the mirror wall, carrying a sobbing Bonnie in its black claw-like hand.


	7. TVD S6 - Part 1 Ch7

_Guesswork_

They gathered together at a truck stop parking lot about a half an hour's drive away from the border of Mystic Falls. Alaric had insisted that they go that far. He had no clear reason for insisting other than some kind of intuition that was brought on by their encounter with Bonnie and Damon. He felt as though they were playing some kind of card game, with very high stakes, and neither side could afford to show their hand.

Luke had left them to go and see Nisha about the items that she said would help them to bring down the Traveler spell. He also wanted to see Liv and question her why some complete stranger was asking about her.

Matt and Abby had gone into the truck stop to get everyone a beverage, while the rest stayed out in the parking lot, leaning against their cars, trying to make sense of what they had just experienced.

"Why did you have to bring us all the way out here? Istas asked Alaric, clearly annoyed.

"Instinct. Intuition. I don't know. Just a feeling."

"A feeling? What the hell does that mean?" she pressed.

"A feeling! Didn't you feel it? We weren't alone there."

"I know what you mean," Caroline said, hugging herself, trying to stifle her shivers. "Something or someone was there with us. With them."

"Was it Bonnie and Damon? Or was it Silas?" asked Stefan of Jeremy.

"I saw Bonnie and Damon. But—"

"But what?" Elena impatiently asked.

"Well, when I was outside the town border, they looked…different."

"Different how?" asked Alaric.

"Like—"

"Like they were worn out or tired," interjected Istas.

Looking at her with confusion and surprise, Jeremy concurred. "Yeah! How did you know?"

"Because I saw it."

"But how? I'm a Hunter and therefore I'm immune to any kind of mind control or compulsion."

"Let's just say that I've been trained to resist mind control as well," she replied.

"By who? How?" Alaric asked.

"Does it matter right now? What matters is, there was some obvious form of mind control being done and the only ones unaffected were myself and Junior here."

Alaric turned to Jeremy. "You said that you saw them as different outside the border. What did you see when you stepped inside?"

Jeremy shrugged his shoulders. "They looked fine. Refreshed. And the smell was gone."

"What smell?" asked Stefan.

"I smelled it too," replied Istas. "It wasn't like anything I've smelled before. It wasn't B.O. or anything human. Not a perfume. Not anything chemical either. But there was a smell."

"A smell," Alaric echoed. He slowly began moving away from the group, looking at the ground, lost in thought at the revelation that Istas and Jeremy had given.

"So if it's not Silas using mind control," Matt said, returning with Abby and coffees in hand. "Then who is it? The only ones powerful enough to mind control other vampires were Silas or an Original."

"Whoever or whatever it was, they seem to have the same limitations as Silas. So they can't affect me at least," replied Jeremy.

"Why are we talking about Silas or other people? It was Damon and Bonnie! Jeremy even confirmed this," Elena said, frustratingly. "Whatever is wrong with them, it's probably that spell that brought them back, like Bonnie said. But if what she said is true, there is a deadline to how long that spell can sustain them in there. We have to give them mine and Stefan's blood to bring that spell down and get our friends and town back!"

"NO!" bellowed Alaric, marching back to the group. "We're not giving them anything. Not yet. Not until we know what we're dealing with here. Or who we're dealing with."

"It sounds like you already know," replied Stefan.

"Just a hunch that I have," Alaric said.

"Care to share with us?" asked Istas.

Alaric looked at her and smirked. "It doesn't matter right now. What matters is, we get back into Mystic Falls."

"And we can't do that until we bring the spell down," Abby said, annoyed. "So we just sit here and do nothing?"

"No," answered Jeremy. "Matt and I will go into town as we planned. We can investigate until Luke comes back with whatever he has."

Alaric sighed. He knew that Jeremy was going to go whether he approved of it or not. "Fine! But do not engage or interact with Bonnie or Damon. Talk with Sheriff Liz and see if any new bodies have turned up. But don't tell her what we've discovered."

"What?" asked Caroline. "She deserves to know, Ric!"

"Not yet. If there is some kind of mind control at work, then it's possible that they can read minds as well as control them. If they realize that Liz knows, they might view her as a threat."

"They?" Elena inquired. "You mean Bonnie and Damon?"

"No. Whoever is controlling them."

"Controlling them? Damn it, Ric! What aren't you telling us?" Elena grilled.

"I can't say right now. I have some research to do to confirm. All I can say right now is that we might not be dealing with the Bonnie and Damon that we know and love. So that means," Alaric turned towards Jeremy, "that you don't engage either of them. Don't even try to spy on them. Just gather intel from Liz and see what's going on around town. See if they've made any new 'friends.' Is that clear?"

Jeremy nodded, looked at Matt and both hopped into Matt's truck and headed for Mystic Falls.

"And the rest of us?" Elena asked.

"Try and use the locator app to track the phone that Stefan gave to Damon. Once we find out where they are and once Luke gets back to us, we can confront them. I'm going to my place to look for something. Hopefully, my suspicions are wrong."

Alaric stepped into his car and revved up the engine. "Oh, and if you're still looking for something to do, you can all go and gather some items that we might need."

"Like what?" asked Istas.

"Crucifixes and holy water!"

 _Twisted Sister_

Luke arrived at Liv's dorm room and knocked on her door. He was surprised to see light emanating from underneath her door, signifying that she was still up, even at that early morning hour. When he knocked again, he clearly heard shuffling and rummaging from behind the door.

Suddenly, the door cracked open. Liv peered through the door, the chain lock crossing her face like some kind of medieval fashion statement.

"What is it?" she asked brusquely.

"What do you mean 'what is it'?" Luke replied. "I've been texting you for the past hour. I figured you were asleep since you never responded. Let me in."

"—*sigh*—Okay, hold on."

She shut the door. Luke could hear her rummaging again. A few seconds passed before she opened the door again and let him in.

"What's going on? What are you doing up at this hour?" Luke asked, looking around her dorm room which was in a state of complete disorganization the likes of which he had never known his sister to live with.

"Nothing. I've—I've been studying a lot, that's all," stammered Liv.

"Studying what?"

"For school! Hello?!"

Liv brushed past Luke and plopped down on her bed.

"Geez! When was the last time you slept? Or bathed?" Luke asked, contorting his face.

"Is there a reason you're bothering me at this hour of the morning?"

"I talked to Nisha. She said that she had something that might help Elena and her friends get to back into Mystic Falls. She told me to come and pick it up from you."

"Yeah," Liv said, getting up from her bed and retrieving a small box from her dresser. "Actually, it wasn't Nisha who brought this. It was some short, bald old guy with glasses. Really creepy! Didn't give a name or anything but said that he was delivering this on Nisha's behalf."

She opened the box and inside was three rings. Each was a silver band with an emblem that resembled a silver griffin, with a backdrop of black all around it.

"He called them Ambrosia Rings. Apparently, they're enchanted with magic that is similar to Traveler magic. Anyone wearing these becomes infused with their magic. He said that it was once thought to be used by humans to gain immortality, but that it didn't quite work out that way. In any case, he said they should work for Elena's purposes."

Liv handed the box to Luke and then stood there with her arms crossed, clearly expecting him to depart immediately since he now had what he came for.

"I was wondering though, are you ever going to tell me what you and Nisha were talking about before?"

"You heard her. It was 'girl stuff.'"

"C'mon Liv! What's going on? We've never kept secrets from each other!"

"Sure!" Liv said as she went to sit on her bed again. "Like all those times mom and dad or the coven confided in you about stuff. You always told me about all those secret meetings too!"

"Is that what this is about? I've always shared what the coven entrusted me with."

"I doubt it," Liv said dejectedly. "I know you kept secrets from me."

Luke shook his head. "What are you talking about? Where is this all coming from? Ever since Nisha came into town, you've been acting funny. In fact, everything seems to have gone crazy!"

"What do you mean?"

Luke sighed as he sat down beside Liv on the bed. "Bonnie and Damon are back."

"What?! How?"

"I don't know. Me and Elena and all of them saw the two in Mystic Falls. Don't ask me how that's possible, Damon being in Mystic Falls with the Traveler spell up, but he was there. And they weren't alone. They had a friend…who was asking for you!"

"Me?"

"So I ask you again—what is going on?"

Liv got up from the bed and paced back and forth. She stared at her clothes hamper until she forcibly turned her gaze away.

"Do you trust me, Luke?"

He stared at the floor for a moment. "I used to."

"Then trust me now. I can't share with you what Nisha shared with me. Not yet. But I will. I promise. Just…just give me time."

"And this woman who was asking for you?"

"I don't know anything about that. I don't know anything about Bonnie or Damon. Maybe I'll ask Nisha about it the next time I see her."

"Which is when?"

Liv shrugged. "I don't know. I asked that bearded weirdo where she was and he just chuckled and said she was busy." She shivered at the memory of her encounter with the man. "Really gave me the creeps!"

Luke nodded and headed towards the door. "I better get these rings to Elena."

"Oh, by the way, that man said something else about the rings. He said that they apparently focus on the dark side, whatever that means. So whoever wears it tends to have their darker selves intensified. Only those with 'high discipline,' as he called it, should wear them. That was the warning he gave."

"I'll let them know," Luke said as he opened the door. He took a side glance over his shoulder. "I'm trusting you, Liv. You've never let me regret that before."

With that, Luke shut the door and left. The second he was gone, Liv rushed over to her hamper, turned it over, letting all her dirty laundry tumble to the floor. At the bottom of the hamper was the Red Dragon grimoire. She grabbed it and rushed to her bed, kneeling at her bedside with the book opened in front of her. Like a crack addict so close to her next fix, Liv began fidgeting and shaking while trying to turn to the last page she was at before Luke interrupted her. When she found it, she began reading and murmuring to herself, repeating line after line of commands, spells, hexes, and incantations. Her mouth started to become dry, her lips chapped, her eyes burning, while her mind filled with the black knowledge and power that lay within the pages before her.

 _Spy Game_

"Why am I driving there?" asked Matt.

They were driving around the town square when Jeremy instructed Matt not to return to Tyler's house, but instead to head on over to the Salvatore mansion.

"Because if Damon is going to be staying anywhere in Mystic Falls, it's there," Jeremy replied.

"But Alaric said—"

"Alaric isn't here! And we're not soldiers. We don't have to follow orders."

"It's not about following orders, it's about common sense. Something dangerous is going on here and we shouldn't be treating this situation lightly."

"If you feel that way, then drop me off here. I'll trek the rest of the way on foot and do it myself."

Matt smirked. "And tell Elena and Alaric that I let you go there alone? I don't think so. We'll do a drive by to see if anyone is home, how about that?"

Jeremy nodded as they continued to drive through the quiet town square. The sky was slowly heralding the coming of the sun, the sky already turning from black to dark blue. The street lights were still shining brightly and it was under one of them that Jeremy noted a peculiar figure.

"Hold up, Matt! Look over there," he said, pointing to a woman with long, brown hair and dressed in business attire, briskly walking along the outside of the town square, her figure alternating between shadow and light as she passed beneath each street lamp.

"Isn't that the woman who was with Damon and Bonnie?" Jeremy asked.

Matt squinted as he tried to get a better look at her from the distance they were at. "I think you're right, Jer."

"Follow her. Let's see where she goes."

"Wait a sec, Jer. Alaric said—"

"Alaric said to leave Bonnie and Damon alone. Does she look like Bonnie or Damon?"

Matt scowled as he reluctantly slowed the truck down and began trailing the woman, keeping a block's distance away so as not to arouse her suspicions. She turned the corner of the town square and immediately paused. Matt instinctively hit the brakes too, and both he and Jeremy sat still in the car, holding their breaths, wondering if she somehow heard or noticed them.

The woman's attention was suddenly grabbed by an early morning jogger coming down another street roughly 100 yards away. The woman stared at the jogger and slowly turned to face her.

"Oh no! Gun it, Matt! GUN IT!" Jeremy screamed.

Despite Matt flooring the gas pedal, the woman cleared the 100 yards in an instant and was on top of the jogger. They couldn't hear her but could see the jogger screaming as the woman buried her face in her neck. Suddenly, the jogger and the woman were gone.

Matt sped over to where the jogger was last seen. As he slowed the car, Jeremy undid his seatbelt and prepared to step out of the truck.

"Whoa! Hold on, Jer!" Matt cautioned. "We don't have anything to fight against her with."

Jeremy ignored him as he stepped out of the truck and walked over to where the jogger had been. He could see droplets of blood on the pavement, but nothing else. Matt stayed in the truck, keeping the engine running and looking all around him to see if any trace of the jogger or Valene could be looked ahead at Jeremy who was standing in the brightness of the truck's headlights, constantly looking around for any sign of where Valene might have taken the jogger. Matt began looking around too from the driver's seat when his eyes glanced over his rear view mirror. He suddenly fixated on an image in the mirror that turned his blood cold. There was Valene's golden demonic eyes and bloody smile peering at him from the rear bed of his pick-up truck. Matt immediately turned around to face her, but when he did, there was no one there. Matt desperately looked all around him, but couldn't see anyone. He gravely realized that Valene was indeed out there and that Jeremy was the proverbial sitting duck with no weapons or any way to defend himself.

Matt instinctively honked his horn to get Jeremy's attention. "JEREMY! GET IN THE TRUCK! SHE'S HERE!"

Matt's veins ran cold as he saw Valene standing beyond Jeremy some distance away, his headlights causing her eyes to glisten like a cat's when in direct light. She was smiling a twisted, blood soaked smile, holding up by the back of the neck with one hand the limp body of the jogger whose throat she just ripped out. Jeremy turned to face Valene, but was immediately transfixed with fear and awe at the image he saw.

A growling sound could be heard coming from Valene, along with hissing and laughing, seemingly all at the same time. She suddenly launched the jogger's lifeless body at Matt's truck. The body slammed so hard that it actually wedged itself into the front grill of the truck, looking as though it was the truck that had hit the jogger at 200 mph. However, the head continued its momentum, like a cork being popped from a bottle of champagne, flying off the body and ramming into Matt's windshield. Blood from the body began sputtering all over the hood of Matt's truck like a geyser.

The sound of screams could be heard in the distance. Jeremy and Matt looked over to see more joggers gathering around, looking on in horror at the scene of their friend's body lodged in Matt's truck. Some were pointing while others could be seen on their cell phones. Jeremy looked around him, but found no trace of Valene anywhere.

She had been standing within the shadows of the branches of a nearby tree, with Damon standing on some other ones.

"The pretence is over," she hissed. "They know that they're friends are not here."

"It's just as well," replied Damon. "I hate hiding behind a façade. Let his majesty and his Kingdom hide like cowards behind human forms! We are the Sovereignty. We are the new Legion. We are the new Kingdom!" Instantaneously, Valene and Damon were gone.

About a half an hour had passed, the dawn slowly creeping upon the scene of blood and murder. Some joggers were sobbing on the curbside while others were talking to police, telling them what they had seen. Jeremy and Matt were handcuffed and sitting on the curbside as well beside a police cruiser, watching the paramedics slowly and apprehensively extract the body and head of the jogger from Matt's truck.

Liz's cruiser pulled up to the scene. She and Tyler got out, with Liz walking off to speak with one of the officers, while Tyler went and approached Matt and Jeremy. Before he could reach them, he was barred by another police officer, telling him he couldn't enter an active crime scene.

"Tyler?" Matt hollered upon seeing him. "What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you guys the same thing. What's going on? What happened here?"

Liz suddenly appeared and signalled to the officer that Tyler was allowed to cross the police barrier. She and Tyler approached Matt and Jeremy, where she helped them to get up but left them in handcuffs.

"So, you mind telling me what's going on? The deputy just told me that multiple witnesses saw you violently run into their fellow jogger. What the hell is going on, Matt?"  
Trying to keep is voice down, Matt leaned in to talk softly to Liz. "It wasn't us. It was—a vampire!"

"A vampire?! How?"

Matt looked over at Jeremy, trying to gauge whether or not to disobey Alaric and let Liz in on what had been going on. They both realized they had no choice and nodded to each other in agreement on the decision.

"Look, this doesn't get out. But we discovered something a while ago…about Damon and Bonnie!"

 _Dark Discovery_

Alaric dumped out boxes upon boxes of books, trying to find the one that he had remembered upon Jeremy and Istas' testimony of the scent that they smelled in the presence of Damon and Bonnie. He had hoped that the book was in these boxes that Matt and Jeremy had been kind enough to ship from his old place in Mystic Falls.

 _Where is it?!_

With preternatural strength, he frustratingly ripped apart another cardboard box, books and papers flying all around, making his apartment looking like a hoarder's paradise. After reviewing and throwing away a bunch of books, Alaric went into his bedroom and brought out some more boxes, labelled as books that he had collected prior to the disappearance of his ex-wife, Isobel. It was her disappearance that prompted him to read up on occult subjects as a means to find out what had happened to her, and one book in particular stuck in his mind after all these years.

After rejecting a few books, he finally found the one that he had been looking for—a case study book on demonic possession by Malachi Martin.

"Here it is!" he exclaimed.

He grabbed a seat on his couch and began flipping through the pages. He turned to one case in particular, about a Catholic priest who fell victim to demonic possession and the subsequent exorcism of the evil spirit. The case described friends commenting on the symptoms that they noticed whenever the possessed priest was in their presence, including the testimony of one friend who recalled a distinct smell.

Alaric found the page he was looking for and read the line concerning the smell:

 _"It was not unpleasant. It was strange. Neither of any animal nor of any plant or of any chemical she had ever known. A deep sense of memory of it remained with her for many weeks."_

"My God!" he exclaimed.

His body jumped when his cell phone went off. He retrieved it from his pocket and read the text message from Elena informing him of Luke's retrieval of something that could help them enter Mystic Falls. They were to all meet at the border as soon as possible.

Alaric nodded to himself, put the phone in his pocket and was about to head off when he noticed something lying on the floor. It was an old crucifix, slightly bigger than the whole of his hand. It was one that supposedly had belonged to his rather religious grandmother. Though Alaric was never religious himself, he somewhat cherished the crucifix as it was a connection to a past that he had long forgotten about.

He stuffed the crucifix in his pocket and stepped out the door, but paused and looked skyward, past the ceiling, as though looking up at something.

"Are you there? I think we really might need your help with this one!"

 _Ghosts of the Past_

Istas sat high on a branch of a cedar tree overlooking the highway that led into Mystic Falls. Despite the fact that she could have stayed at a nearby hotel, Istas always preferred the outdoors. The progress of civilization and the comforts of luxury could not compete with the communion with Nature as far as she was concerned. Though she did appreciate a hot shower and laundry facilities, and for that she gladly compelled the staff at the hotel to let her access to all of that for free. Otherwise, outside was her home. Ever since she was a child, she'd prefer sleeping outside, under dark sky observing and wondering about the stars and the wonders of the vast universe. Angie, her sister, and the rest of the family were content to sleep in tents, but she was more than content to take her people's communion with Nature as far as she could.

It was therefore a blow to her when she became a vampire. She became something unnatural—something contrary to Nature. An irregularity—an abomination. Unlike some of her fellow tribe's people who carried the werewolf gene and thus had a connection to Nature that was enhanced upon their transformation, her connection to Nature became strained. Even with heightened senses, a barrier as thin as a veil, but a barrier nonetheless, went up between her and the Nature she loved so much. An innocuous veil that disrupted the harmony that she felt she once had with the natural world. For years, she tried to re-establish that connection, with a part of her accepting the limited connection that she could repair.

She sat on the tree branch, keeping an eye on the border while draining the last drops of blood from a coyote she had just caught. She began thinking of the events that she just experienced at that border, having a ghost from her past suddenly re-appear in her life.

 _Little Red Prairie Flower! How did he know? How could that guy know?_

Her upper lip curled at the question. There was no way that Damon could have known that nickname that Chris had called her before she had been turned over a century ago. And yet, when Damon said it, he winked at her, as though it was an inside joke. But she wasn't laughing. What made it all the more sinister was how Damon's blue eyes were so much like Chris', almost as though he were Chris but in a different body.

 _Stop it! STOP IT! He's dead! You killed him! He's gone and he's never coming back!_

She hurled the coyote carcass down to the ground and aggressively wiped her mouth. She gritted her teeth as she stared at nothing in particular along the horizon. Almost quivering, her heartbeat rapidly pounding, she felt a tear streaming down her cheek. She wiped it off and clenched her eyes shut.

 _He's dead! He's dead! He's dead!_

She opened her eyes and stared skywards. Her pondering was interrupted by the buzzing of her phone. She read the intercepted message from Elena to Alaric, informing of Luke's accomplished mission and the meet up at the border. Throughout her various adventures, Istas had the advantage of making some key contacts, even in the tech world. It was one of these contacts that created an app that allowed her to essentially spy on other phone messages and conversations. Installing the bug in Elena's phone was no problem, especially after she went unconscious from a wooden bullet! Istas might not have killed Elena then and there, but she wasn't through with her yet. She pulled out a thermos from her bag and took a sip of some coffee. The dawn was approaching over the horizon and she had another date with the gang from Mystic Falls.

 _The Clash_

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Elena chided as she drove along the highway to Mystic Falls.

"It wasn't them, and you know it!" replied Stefan.

Elena remained sullen as the two of them sat silently, the hum of the engine and the bumps in the concrete filled the awkward, mute void.

"If it's not him, then who is it?" Elena finally asked.

"I don't know. But I've known my brother for over 150 years. I've known him at his best and at his worst. I've known him with his humanity on and off. And I can tell you with absolute certainty that the guy we met at the border was not him. That guy, both he and Bonnie, didn't just lack humanity. They seemed—inhuman."

Elena digested Stefan's words. She eventually sighed, signalling some agreement on her part to what Stefan was saying.

"Okay, I agree that I got a weird vibe from them too. But what if it's like Bonnie was saying? What if it is some kind of magical jetlag?"

"Whatever it is, I think it's more than them just being fatigued. Their behaviour was just not like them."

"But—"

"Do you really believe that Damon would have treated you like that?"

For all of Damon's bravado and maverick ways, Elena found that he could be surprisingly tender and considerate. When she found out that he had helped Rose die a peaceful death, it was the first glimpse for her that Damon was not the selfish monster that everyone had made him out to be. But she also realized that he could be quite cavalier and loose, which led to her difficult acceptance of the fact that he tried to kill Jeremy at various points. But she was able to see the man behind the monster, even if he hid him too well, even from her. It was something he seemed to do instinctively she thought, almost as a defensive tactic from showing his true self. It was easier to let others judge the monster than to judge who he truly was inside. Sometimes the monster was too easy to see, and she felt that in the instance of him pulling her into Mystic Falls while the Traveler spell was still up, it was a case of the man hiding behind the monster again.

"But what about Bonnie's warning? The spell that sustains them could end at any time. And then what? Damon dies…again! We just got him and Bonnie back. Do you really want to lose them again?"

"Of course not! But—"

"Look, we bring the spell down, we get into Mystic Falls and then we can worry about what's affecting them. If we continue to wait, I might lose him!"

"We! WE might lose them!" Stefan said.

"—*sigh*—You know what I mean. Listen, I'm not going to apologize for being passionate about wanting Damon back. I love him."

"Yes…I know," Stefan said resignedly. "You're not the only one who wants him back. It's not all about you, Elena."

She picked up on Stefan's annoyance, and in return felt annoyance as well. Though she understood his anger over their break up, given the fact that she went with Damon immediately after, part of her kept wondering why Stefan just never got over it. People break up all the time. If Damon could provide the spark and excitement that Stefan never could, then that was a mark against Stefan, not her. She realized that she deserved happiness and it was Damon who ultimately brought that to her, not Stefan. Besides, Stefan had already admitted that he no longer was in love with her, so she didn't understand this continued grudge for a love that both admitted had died a long time ago.

As she continued her stream of consciousness, Stefan's phone began to buzz.

"Caroline is on her way with Abby," Stefan said, reading the text message.

"Good. Alaric should be at the border soon as well."

As they approached the border, they could see a car and a motorcycle. The car, Elena deduced belonged to Luke. But the bike caused indignation in Elena.

"What the hell is this?! What is she doing here? Did you text her?" she asked Stefan.

"Of course not! Why would I considering she tried to kill you and took the rest of us out!"

"That's just great! It's not like we don't have enough to deal with as it is. Now we have Xena, Warrior Angry Princess here to make things worse!"

After Elena parked the car and she and Stefan got out, they went over to Luke while Elena kept a wary eye on Istas, who returned her gaze with a wry smile.

"Thanks for getting in touch with us so soon. Did you find something?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, I—"

Luke was interrupted by the simultaneous arrival of Caroline with Abby and Alaric.

"Perfect timing," Stefan said to the three as they walked over to them. "Did you get set up, Abby?"

"Yes, Caroline helped me. Did you guys find a way to get into the town?"

"I was about to explain," said Luke, pulling out a box with three rings in them. "These rings apparently are imbued with a magic that is similar to Traveler magic."

"What makes them so special?" asked Caroline, scrutinizing the rings.

"They're called Ambrosia Rings. Supposedly, they grant the wearer immortality."

"Ambrosia Rings? As in, from Greek mythology?" asked Alaric.

"You know of these?" asked Luke.

"Not of the rings, but ambrosia was the food and drink that bestowed immortality upon the gods and anyone else who consumed them. Fitting name, I suppose."

"Well, I don't know about that. What I was told by Liv was that the wearer of these rings were granted immortality for as long as they wore them, but at a cost. It brings about the darker, more sinister side of the wearer."

"Hmph! Sounds familiar," piped Elena, glancing at Alaric.

"If they work," remarked Istas as she picked one of the rings up. "So besides immortality, exactly how are these rings going to get us into town?"

Alaric grabbed another ring, looking into Mystic Falls. "I'm assuming that whatever the magic that grants the wearer immortality will automatically cover them in the same magic. Question is, will it work in there?"

"Wait a minute, Ric. I don't think you should be trying one. You don't exactly have a great history with magical rings bringing out the dark side!" Elena said, holding onto Ric's arm as he attempted to put on the ring.

"I'll be fine, Elena. Besides, we don't have a choice. Three of us have to take these rings and go in there. First, we'll see if they even work."

Alaric slipped the ring on his left index finger. He immediately felt woozy and teetered over, almost falling on Elena. Elena instinctively held him up as he tried to steady himself.

"Whoa! That was unexpected. I'm fine though," he said, smiling reassuringly.

Alaric breathed in a deep breath and headed to the edge of town. The morning sun was slightly peering over the horizon; just enough that any vampire without a daylight ring would begin to burn. Alaric slowly stepped over the border into Mystic Falls. He stood motionless, waiting for some kind of reaction. He expected to burn. He expected to begin dying from a piercing wound into his heart.

But nothing happened.

He stood motionless with his eyes closed for another minute until he was convinced that he was safe.

"It works!" Elena said, smiling. She reached for a ring in Luke's box.

"No!" Alaric barked.

"No?!"

"You're too close to this, Elena. I can already feel something happening to me. Primal. Carnal." Alaric closed his eyes again, his body twitching, his hands clenching and unclenching. He wanted to transform, to turn into a vampire. He had an incredibly powerful craving and desire to feed. He opened his eyes again and refocused on Elena. "You're too close to Damon to confront him now."

"Well, I don't know this Damon person, so I'm good!" Istas said, slipping on a ring. She briefly fell to one knee as the effects of the ring took hold. Once she regained control, she sauntered past Elena to join Alaric.

"Oh, hell no, Ric! She is not going in while I'm staying out here!" Elena protested.

With eyes closed, attempting to quell an annoyance that was threatening to evolve into full blown rage, Alaric's eyes flew open and glared at Elena and then at Istas. "It might be a good idea. She has no emotional attachment in this. Plus, we could use her skills."

"Skills for what?" asked Stefan. "You still haven't explained what it is you think we're facing."

"And I won't until I see Damon and Bonnie to confirm! Alright?!"

Alaric became more agitated, scowling at Stefan before closing his eyes again to regain composure.

Stefan looked over at the last ring and contemplated putting it on too, but looked over at both Alaric and Istas. He could see the struggle going on within them. He knew it all too well—the desire to feed, the craving to go and rip apart a human being for their blood, the temptation to just let loose and let the demon inside to have free reign and to overtake and have its way. For whatever reason, that demon was a lot stronger in Stefan than it was in other vampires, and so he well knew what it was like to lose to that demon. Realizing that an Ambrosia Ring could once again bring out the Ripper was not something Stefan was keen on doing, seeing as how he had already let it happen without the ring.

He grabbed the last ring and tossed it to Caroline. "If anyone among us has the discipline to keep their dark side at bay, it's you."

Caroline stared at the ring and then at Stefan. She gave an appreciative smile and slipped on the ring. She immediately felt woozy and stumbled over onto Luke.

"Whoa! Sorry, Luke. I…I—"

She looked into Luke's eyes for a moment, and then her gaze slowly and lustfully began wandering to his neck. For a brief moment, Luke could see the vampire veins around her eyes begin to faintly form. He instinctively pushed her away, ready to employ magic to defend himself.

Caroline shook her head and stared apologetically at Luke. She joined Alaric and Istas inside the border of Mystic Falls.

"Did you guys bring crosses and holy water like I asked?" inquired Alaric.

"No. What…are we Van Helsing all of a sudden?" Caroline replied snidely.

"I told you to bring them!"

"Well, if you had asked nicely—"

"Listen, you blonde bit—"

"Hey! We have things to do instead of arguing with each other," Istas blared as she pushed Caroline and Alaric apart.

Both of them closed their eyes and breathed in deeply.

"I'm—I'm sorry, Caroline. These rings—"

"Tell me about it! I don't know why I got so mad just then," replied Caroline.

"We better hurry then. It's obvious these rings are going to do more harm than good to us. Have you got an idea of where Damon is now, Stefan?"  
Stefan checked his phone. "Yeah, he's at the Salvatore mansion. Makes sense."

Alaric turned to Istas and Caroline. "Okay, let's do this then. Istas, follow us."

All three disappeared in an instant as they raced towards Salvatore mansion.


	8. TVD S6 - Part 1 Ch8

_Encounter of the Bloody Kind_

"Hmm…nice shack!" murmured Istas.

The three stood on the front steps of the Salvatore mansion. The brisk, morning air filled their nostrils as the frantic chirping of birds filled their ears. Strands of clouds struggled to cover the expanse of light blue in the sky as it blended with the bright, golden streams of sunshine as the bright star slowly made its ascendancy into the sky, creating a halo of light around the Salvatore mansion. The entire atmosphere betrayed the ominous vibe that the trio was getting from the mansion itself.

For all the times that Caroline and Alaric had been to the mansion, neither one of them had ever felt such an apprehension. And yet, it was there—invisible, elusive, and but present. Something was different about the mansion and yet neither one of them could explain why. Alaric, almost instinctively, squeezed the crucifix in his pocket. A strange sensation jolted through his hand. The crucifix felt warm, seemingly getting warmer the longer he held onto it. He decided to let it go.

"Before we go in, I want you two to understand something," Alaric said, turning to the others. "Damon and Bonnie may not be who they say they are. They might not be what they say they are. If that's the case, I don't want either of you to hold back. Take them out!"

"What?!" asked Caroline. "Take them out? What the hell is going on, Ric? You don't just blurt out a line like that without even so much as an explanation. What are we facing?"

"I don't know. I'll know when I see them."

"Well, that's not good enough! You can't expect me to 'take out' Bonnie all because you've got a feeling that something is wrong."

"Well, I don't know either of them so I'm good to go!" replied Istas nonchalantly.

"Yeah, well, one of them is my best friend, so if you decide to take her out, trust me…you won't have to worry about revenge on Elena because you won't be alive to do it!"

Istas raised her eyebrow and sauntered over to Caroline, sizing her up. "Did you just—"

"Alright, that's enough!" barked Alaric. "We have some work to do. We'll take different floors. Caroline, you take upstairs. Istas, you take the basement floor. I'll take the main floor. We meet at the front entrance in five minutes…no later! Agreed?"

The two women eyed each other and then Alaric, nodding their agreement. All three entered the mansion to proceed with their investigation.

The moment they crossed the threshold, all three of them instinctively stopped. None of them knew why, but it was just something they each felt they had to do. For as many times as both Alaric and Caroline had been in the mansion, they had never felt anything like what they were feeling as they stood in the front hallway. Something was different. Something! It reminded Caroline of the time when Bonnie and Elena played a prank on her, moving her all of her bedroom furniture by a mere two inches. When she walked in, everything looked the same but something in her head told her that something had changed. She found herself repeatedly hitting her shins and feet against the bed and dresser because they had been moved, though her eyes couldn't tell her why. It was only after when Elena and Bonnie confessed of their crime that Caroline marvelled at the perceptive powers of the human mind. It was the same feeling here, as though everything looked the same, but there was something off about the whole thing.

For Istas, it was like she had just stepped onto a different planet that looked like Earth. Things looked quite normal and yet the atmosphere was somehow dissimilar. It felt musty and heavy, like something alien had made its home there and like geese in a marsh fluttering up when their home and tranquility was disturbed by a hunter, so too did it seem that the environment itself was somehow protesting the presence of whatever it was that was in the house.

Alaric motioned for the two ladies to go on their way and they split off. He stepped into the main living room. Daylight slowly brightened the room, lifting the months of dust off the floor and furniture, swirling the particles around in a chaotic dance, outlining the invasive rays of the Sun. Alaric could sense that something wasn't right amidst the normality of the scene. It was clear that no one had occupied the mansion in months, and yet he could sense a presence. An atmosphere of sinister intent seemed to fill the room around him. Like a deer in the forest that somehow knew that it was being stalked by a nearby predator camouflaged amongst the bushes and trees, so too did Alaric know that he was being watched and was in danger by something that was apparently out in the open, yet he could not see it.

He focused his hearing to pick up any sound that his voyeur might be making. He picked up the sounds of Caroline and Istas' footsteps on the other levels of the mansion, the birds chirping outside, the critters scurrying about on the lawn, the insects buzzing and flying about. He could pick up the faintest of sounds and yet none of them seemed to come from that presence that was stalking him.

Alaric walked over to the fireplace, knelt down and began rubbing the ashes in between his fingers.

"For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

A disembodied whisper broke the silence in the cavernous living room.

Alaric immediately stood up and scanned all around him, but saw nothing. He walked away from the fireplace, continuing to scan when suddenly, as though the mouth was right against his ear, Alaric heard the whispering voice again.

"Aren't you going to say 'hello,' Ric?"

* * *

Caroline tried her best to sneak around upstairs, but her Steve Madden Myranda ankle boots weren't exactly meant for stealth work. Caroline silently scolded herself for not thinking ahead and wearing her sneakers, forcing her to scruff her nice boots when she ran from the border to the mansion. She clomped through the musty corridor, peering into the various rooms along the way. Everything seemed undisturbed, with Damon's room in particular seemingly untouched and kept in pristine order. His bed had been made and nothing was left lying out. Caroline smiled as she credited Elena more than Damon for the state of affairs of his bedroom.

She walked on and headed upstairs towards Stefan's room. Upon entering, Caroline felt a mustiness and atmosphere that was different than what she had felt in the corridor. She exhaled and suddenly saw her breath as though she were outside on a cold, winter morning.

A strange smell also suddenly began to fill her nostrils. It was a smell that she couldn't immediately identify. It was neither human nor animal, neither perfume nor stench that she had smelled before.

" …Sweet Caroliiiiine…dah, dah, dah… "

Bonnie's melodious singing of the Neil Diamond song abruptly broke Caroline's concentration on the smell. Caroline looked around but she couldn't see Bonnie anywhere. She whipped open closet and bathroom doors, hoping to find her hiding behind them, but Bonnie was not there.

"Bonnie?!" Caroline bellowed.

Without warning, Caroline was knocked off her feet by some unseen force and was slammed backwards onto the floor. Before she could process what had happened to her, her body was rapidly levitated off the ground, turned in mid-air so that her back was facing the ceiling. She was suspended, unable to move her limbs in any way to bring herself down again.

" …good times never seemed so good… "

Bonnie continued to sing as she came into Caroline's view, grinning like the Joker while her demon eyes sparkled ever so menacingly at her.

* * *

Istas made her way into the cellar of the Salvatore mansion, maneuvering her way through the wine racks and barrels, seemingly impressed at the Salvatore's affection for fine liquor. She felt a slight temptation to grab a bottle and take a chug for good measure. As she ran her finger along one of the barrels, leaving a clean line in the dusty landscape, she continued to look around the dank environment, keeping her ears open for the sound of another presence there.

She knew there was someone in there with her. She could feel it. She didn't need her years of training to let her know that she was being watched. The presence was undeniable if not strangely elusive. As she continued to weave through the wine racks, the lights in the room began to flicker. Istas immediately stopped walking and remained motionless. She focused her hearing for the slightest sound that would signal an oncoming attack. The lights continued flickering but she paid no attention to them, regarding the meagre light show as a distraction that she wasn't going to fall for. She kept her focus on the sounds that were going to betray her attacker's presence and strategy.

Someone whistled behind her and as she turned around, she stared dumbfounded as a wine bottle came hurtling towards her forehead. She barely dodged in time, feeling the bottle graze the side of her head before smashing against the wall behind her.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a _kunai_ blade while she widened her stance, ready to attack or defend against whoever it was that threw the bottle at her. She cursed under her breath for letting Abby keep her gun. As she looked over at the direction from where the bottle came from, she couldn't see anyone. The lights stopped flickering but the room was still too dimly lit for her to separate shadow from object.

"Did you miss me, my little Red Prairie Flower? I sure missed you…especially this time! Heh, heh, heh!"

The hair on her arms and neck stood on end, her own body growing cold at the sound of that distinct male voice—a voice that she had not heard for decades, a voice that she was positive she would never hear again. A tear began forming on her eye as panic began to overwhelm her body. Her muscles became tight and unresponsive, to the point that she almost dropped her blade. Her heartbeat increased so much so that she almost fainted.

 _It can't be. He was human. There is no way he's still alive!_

Anger replaced the fear as her fangs and vampire eyes emerged, her body suddenly becoming alive with rage as she stomped around the room, challenging the voice to reveal itself.

"It's been far too long," said the disembodied voice. "All this time and look what's become of you. You need to be taught your lessons again. Looks like I have to teach you all over again! Red-skinned bitch! You know I like it when it is I who makes your skin red!" The voice was smooth, cold and brutal, just like she remembered him.

Anger and fear collided inside of her, vying for dominance of her emotions. She started quivering at the sound of that voice—his voice, his words. The way he used to talk to her when he….

"SHOW YOURSELF!" Istas yelled, anger having won the battle but not the war. She looked around and took a few steps backwards when she suddenly saw something out of the periphery of her vision. She turned to look to the far side of the cellar where there was no illumination save for two glowing golden points that seemed like headlights in the darkness. Istas recognized them as eyes when she saw them blink. The eyes moved up the wall to the height of the ceiling, then moved across the ceiling of the cellar towards her. The eyes never deviated from staring straight at Istas.

As the eyes came closer to her, moving into the light, she could finally see a head and then a body. It was Valene, crawling on the ceiling like a spider, her head horribly and impossibly twisted upside down so that she could gaze at Istas, grinning with her vampire teeth in full view.

"We'll make you red!" Valene said, in the male voice that Istas was hearing the whole time. "Like he did. And you'll love me for it, like you loved him for it! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

* * *

Alaric turned around to face Damon, but he wasn't there.

"Damon!" he bellowed.

"We marvel," Damon said, his voice echoing throughout the room as though it was state of the art, stereo sound. "We marvel at how you even got here."

Alaric roamed around the room, trying desperately to pinpoint where Damon's voice was coming from, but it seemed to shift from one side of the room to the other, from one corner to another, from floor to ceiling.

"Ahhhh! An Ambrosia Ring! How ironic. Ironic indeed!"

Alaric looked at the ring on his finger. "Damon? Come out and talk. I'm here to help you."

"Do we look like we need help?"

The voice was finally localized, coming from one specific location rather than from the overall atmosphere. Alaric looked directly up and saw Damon standing on the ceiling. He had his arms crossed and was looking down at him like some kind of bat, his demonic eyes glistening with hatred and amusement.

"Damon?!' Alaric gasped.

In an instant, Damon vanished, suddenly appearing on the opposite side of the room, perched like a bird on the back of one of the living room chairs, the sunshine falling on him, creating an effect that made it seem like Damon was heavenly blessed.

"Ric! Rico! Ricky Ric Raca Ric!" Damon giddily blurted, bobbling his head in tempo to the sound of each name. "It's been a while, buddy!"

Having been so used to seeing Damon walk around in the daytime, it suddenly occurred to him that Damon wasn't burning up in the daylight. His daylight ring should have been rendered useless by the Traveler spell, and yet Damon remained in the sunlight unaffected.

As though reading Alaric's thoughts, Damon smiled and turned towards the sunlight, closed his eyes and basked in its warmth.

"Loopholes, my man! When you have a witch in your service, loopholes find their way. As you have already demonstrated," Damon said, nodding towards Alaric's ring.

Damon jumped down from the chair and walked over to him. "Speaking of which, where, oh where, did you acquire such fine jewelry?"

Alaric's instincts immediately kicked in as he observed Damon ever so subtly lower his chin and his body overall. His legs seemed out of step with his arms, another sign that an attack was imminent. Alaric reached into his pocket and grasped the crucifix. It was much warmer than it was before, bordering on hot. The sensation startled him for a moment but he realized he had no time to waste as Damon continued his approach. Alaric whipped out the crucifix and held it up to his old friend. Damon immediately recoiled, hissing and growling as he put his hands up, turning his gaze away from the cross.

"Who are you?" Alaric interrogated.

"Lookssss like you already know," Damon said, in a voice that was not his own.

"How did you come to—"

With a speed that Alaric had never seen nor could match, Damon swatted the crucifix out of his hand, sending it hurling through the living room like a ninja star until it pierced through a wall, completely going through it as though it was made of paper.

With his one weapon gone, Alaric went on the offensive. He threw a left haymaker, a right uppercut, a left jab, a right haymaker followed by a spinning backfist, all at the highest speed that he could muster.

But none of his attacks found their target.

Alaric remained stunned for what seemed like minutes. He could feel his fist just grazing Damon's skin as Damon dodged his attacks. As fast as Alaric was, it appeared that Damon was just a hair faster.

Damon smiled and countered. He threw the exact combination of punches that Alaric had just thrown, only all of his landed. Alaric could feel his right cheek bone, his lower left jaw, his right orbital bone around his eye, his left temple and then the left side of his head all begin to ache and throb as Damon's punches found their mark. Bright flashes of light alternated with darkness after each hit, leaving Alaric woozy.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Did you really think it would be that easy, Ric?" Damon sneered as he kicked Alaric in the stomach. Alaric keeled over, his eyes bulging out as all the air pushed out of his stomach in one excruciating blow. Damon grabbed Alaric by the hair and forced him to look up.

"We were Mars the Romans…"

Damon slapped him.

"…Anhur to the Egyptians…"

Damon slapped him again with the back of his hand.

"…Ares to the Greeks…"

Damon grabbed Alaric by the throat and brought him up until he had him suspended in the air. "We taught you talking chimps the art of war! You do not surpass the master. Not when we enhance the soldier. Not when we augment the warrior. Never!"

He then threw Alaric back against the far wall with such force that Alaric's body became embedded. He blacked out momentarily. When he came to, there was Damon standing in front of him, clutching Alaric's jaw, grinning with his wild, demonic eyes shining brighter than before, his skin an ashen grey as though it was made of stone.

"Don't leave us yet, brother. You have something…that we want—"

Alaric screamed as his felt his rib cage and internal organs burst and give way to Damon's thrusting fist that punched its way to his heart.

"—and you're going to give it to us, whether you want to…or not!"

* * *

Telekinetically breaking pieces of wooden furniture in Stefan's room, Bonnie arranged the sharper pieces to stand on end like spikes on the floor, directly below Caroline's suspended body.

"Bonnie! Why are you doing this? It's me!" Caroline pleaded, helplessly struggling in the air. "Whatever it is that has you, fight it! Fight it, Bonnie!"

"What do you know of us?" Bonnie asked, her voice smooth and sensuous. She circled below Caroline like a lion in a pit waiting for some raw meat to drop. "What do you know of me? Did you ever really know me?"

"I know that whoever you are that is inside of her, you don't know a damn thing about her!"

"I know that she detestsssss YOU! You, and your idiot friends. Those like Elena and Stefan and all of them. All of them that…that she….that I…I…I gave my life for multiple times over. The life of my mother. Oh yes! I hate you. HHHHATE YOUUUUU!"

Bonnie's appearance was such a contorted mess of abhorrence and contempt that it reminded Caroline of a gargoyle, with its stone cold appearance, craggy texture and lifeless complexion. Her eyes glowed more brightly than ever, the glimmering demonic brilliance of the gold and red drowned out the black slit in the center of her eyes.

Caroline's heart cracked at the hatred Bonnie was spewing. Even though a part of her wanted to believe that it was the feelings of the person that was possessing Bonnie, Caroline couldn't help but feel that some of that hatred was Bonnie's own.

Bonnie closed her eyes for a moment and a moment only. Instantaneously, her face changed. The hate was gone and it was as though it was never there. She opened her eyes again, which were still demonic but soft, and looked back up again at Caroline.

"Bonnie is with us. Bonnie is us, and we are Bonnie. As for you, Caroline—"

With a wave of Bonnie's hand, Caroline suddenly felt whatever force that was keeping her suspended in the air disappeared, and the force of gravity took over, pulling Caroline down to the floor onto the splintered piece of furniture that Bonnie had set up.

* * *

Like a leopard clawing and swiping at a rival predator for food, Valene attacked Istas, leaving deep and bloody scratch marks on Istas' arms and face. Istas was not ready for the lightning speed that Valene was moving at, at first being overwhelmed to the point that Istas could only throw her arms up haphazardly, trying to block and deflect Valene's attacks while she stepped back. Istas realized that she was losing a lot of blood, since Valene was attacking so fast that none of her wounds were healing fast enough.

Istas moved back and weaved in out of the wine barrels, trying to put some distance between herself and Valene. But Valene impressively mirrored her, keeping pace, still clawing at her. Istas realized that she was running out of space and spontaneously stopped retreating and launched a front kick to Valene's chest, ramming her back. Valene dropped to one knee clutching her chest, her demon eyes shining in the dimness of the wine cellar. Istas saw her opportunity and grabbed a random wine bottle and, with her vampire speed and strength, chucked it at Valene's head. The bottle cracking against Valene's skull rang like thunder echoing throughout the cellar. Dazed and drenched in vintage Italian wine, Valene looked up in time to see another bottle streaking through the air, crashing into her forehead, knocking her flat onto the floor.

Shaking her head, trying to regain her full senses, Valene's vision rapidly came into focus to see Istas standing over her, one of her _kunai's_ grasped in her hand. Istas swiftly brought the wooden blade down into Valene's chest. However, Valene caught the blade in between her hands, stopping it from stabbing into her heart.

"NO! You won't…*ugh*…you won't take this body from ussss…we will not be cast out! WE WON'T!" Valene hissed in a voice that sounded like neither male nor female to Istas.

Valene pushed the blade upwards towards Istas, and when she had enough room, pulled her left leg back towards her own chest, placed her foot on Istas' abdomen and thrust her back against the wall. The back of Istas' head slammed hard against the concrete wall, causing her to crumple on the floor, dropping her weapon. Both of them struggled to get up as quickly as possible, trying desperately to recover from the damage the other had inflicted upon them.

Istas realized she had lost her advantage. Valene was stronger and faster than her, and her ally of Surprise had disappeared. But seeing Valene's hair clinging to her face, drenched in wine gave her an idea. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her lighter.

"If you don't want to leave…fine! Then stay in that body and burrrrrrrrrn!"

Istas rushed towards Valene and ignited the lighter. Immediately, Valene began screaming as her body became engulfed in waves of orange and yellow. Istas could hear multiple voices amidst the screams, as though there was more than just one person inside of Valene's body. Like a comet streaking through the sky, Valene vamp-sped out of the cellar, leaving a trail of light and then black smoke in her wake.

Istas picked up her weapon and pursued her, determined to finish the job.

* * *

"It's kind of the…epitome…of our little 'friendship' that I should touch your heart so, don't you think Ric?" Damon asked smiling, amused as his arm remained imbedded in Alaric's chest, his hand clasped around Alaric's heart. "But it doesn't have to be this way. We don't want to kill you, brother. We need something. Something that we were not privy to see. An event! Yessss! An event that you were there for. An event that only one of us saw. The Daring One won't tell us. But you saw it. Somewhere in that chimp mind of yours is that event stored. And you're going to give it to us!"

Damon placed his hand on Alaric's head and closed his eyes. Alaric tried to shake Damon's hand off of him, tried to lift his own hands to push Damon off, but Damon grasped his heart all the tighter, slightly tugging on it, demonstrating to Alaric that all it took was a simple twist to completely displace his heart and remove it from his chest. Alaric realized that he was at Damon's mercy.

Images began flashing in Alaric's mind's eye. Images of the past—memories. His memories. Damon was probing, scanning through every memory, trying to find a specific moment. Alaric couldn't tell which one. He closed his eyes and tried to focus his mind. The flashes of memories were quick, like someone rapidly flicking through television channels. Alaric tried slowing those images down. He was partially successful. The flashes were slowing down, as memories were being played out longer in his head.

Alaric screamed as Damon wiggled his hand inside of his chest. "Don't play with us! We're not here to play anymore!"

The flashes continued until they finally stopped. The memory was unfocused for a bit. As the memory began to stabilize, Alaric found that the memory was familiar, yet unfamiliar. He was in a crypt, dimly lit by a few candles. Esther Mikaelson walked into the crypt with Elena in tow. He could see Elena protest but he couldn't hear her, nor could he hear Esther. It was as though someone had turned the volume off while the memory was replaying. He could see Esther magically slice open Elena's hand and forcing her blood to spill into a chalice. He could see her command him to drink from it. He did. Then suddenly, he could see Esther pull out the indestructible white oak stake that she had fashioned from his Gilbert ring and drive it into his heart.

"That's it! Well done, Ric! Or should we say, Alternate Ric. Because of course, that wasn't you, was it? But the memory is there. We'll give you gibbering chimps credit. You certainly know how to take what we give you and make it all your own!" Damon said gleefully. "Esther Mikaelson certainly knew how to make what we gave all that much better. An ingenious slut, that one! Creating you. Creating them. Fulfilling what we have always wanted! Now THAT was a woman after our own hearts! Oh, the fun we could have had with her." Damon looked off to the side, his face filled with both wonder and regret.

He turned back and looked at Alaric, slowly removing his hand from Alaric's head. "Well, no point crying over spilt blood, huh Ric? And now…now…we're going to see how good that Original Bitch really was. Because the spell she put on you…linking you to Elena's life? She's dead! Did you know that? Elena's dead!" Damon said whimsically. "Well, she's undead now. So what does that mean for you? Before, nothing could kill you. Not the sun. Not a stake to the heart. Not even white oak. But now?"

Grinning maniacally, the diabolicalness of the situation accentuated with his glowing demonic eyes, Damon grasped tighter onto Alaric's heart.

Istas arrived at the top of the stairs. She took a whiff of the air, trying to follow the scent of burning vampire flesh. She made her way into the living room and saw Alaric pinned to the wall with Damon's hand impaled within his chest. Immediately assessing the dire situation that Alaric was in, Istas vamp-sped towards Damon and punched him in a specific point along his spine with the tip of her knuckle. Damon gasped as his hand involuntarily spread open, causing Alaric to wail in pain at the expansion of Damon's hand in his torso. Istas grabbed Damon's arm and pulled it out of Alaric's chest, leaving him to collapse onto the floor, clutching at the gaping hole in his chest.

Istas spun Damon around so that he would be facing her. She launched a straight right punch to his face, but Damon caught her arm by her wrist before she connected. He wiggled his right arm that Istas had forced open just in time to catch her other fist that was coming for his face. He overpowered her as she struggled to pull her arms free.

"Well, well, well! Pocahontas to the rescue! Not this time, my little prairie flower," Damon said beaming.

Istas noticed Damon was holding her right hand downwards, letting it hover roughly an inch away from his chest.

An inch. That was all the room she needed to hurt him.

Istas looked up a Damon and smirked. Had he known that she had trained in the Jeet Kun Do system under its founder for a number of years, he would've had understood her smile. She repositioned her left leg so that it was behind her and that she was standing, more or less, adjacent to Damon. Closing her right hand into a fist and bending her arm slightly, she dropped down momentarily, allowing her knees to bend faintly. She then straightened both legs, the sudden jerk giving speed and power to the twisting of her hips, transferring over to the lurching of her forward arm. The sudden of extension of her elbow drove her fist forward to rapidly cover the one inch space and plow into Damon's chest.

His sternum cracked like an egg as he stumbled back a few meters. He grasped at his chest as he tried to breathe in, the punch sending bits of bone into his lungs and heart. As he looked up, he could see Istas already in motion with a vampire's speed, her right legged cocked and loaded, lifted and bent at her waist as she stepped over, her left foot planting itself a few inches from him. Istas extended her right leg, the side of her foot striking where her fist had just punched Damon in the chest. The side kick sent Damon flailing through the air, through one of the walls and into the wall of another room.

Istas walked over to the first hole in the wall that Damon made and made it bigger so that she could walk through it. She observed as Damon thrashed around on the ground, clutching at his chest as he tried to breathe. Blood was coughing up from out of his mouth as he tried to stand up but he kept collapsing onto the floor. Istas reached into her pocket and pulled out the last of her wooden blades. She grabbed the blade end of the weapon and held it up, waiting for a clean shot at Damon as he continued to flounder uncontrollably. When he finally stopped and stood up, Istas' eyes widened as she drew her hand back, ready to release her _kunai_ blade into Damon's heart.

The blade flew through the air, cutting the atmosphere with a _whizzing_ sound, the power of Istas' vampire strength causing it to almost break the sound barrier. The blade almost arrived at its destination until it was caught in Alaric's hand.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Istas yelled as she saw Alaric standing in between her and Damon, holding the blade she had just thrown in his hand.

"You can't! You can't kill him!" Alaric said, panting as he grasped at his chest, the wound left behind by Damon slowly closing as his supernatural healing powers were working at full force. He threw the blade away and turned around to look at Damon, who was clutching at his own chest, smiling at Alaric.

"Thanks brother! We kinda like you too!" Damon said, winking at him before vanishing.

Istas stood with her mouth gaping open and her eyes wider than an owl's, looking around the room before settling her eyes once again on Alaric. "Did you not say that we might have to kill them? DIDN'T YOU?! WHAT THE HELL?!"

"It's not that easy. He's my friend!"

"Your friend?! He almost ripped your heart out, and would have had it not been for me, I might point out! We could have ended this!"

Istas vamp-sped towards Alaric and rocked him with a haymaker. Alaric stumbled backwards onto the floor, clutching at his jaw.

"This was your idea!" Istas berated, looking down at Alaric. "And now you go ahead and change your mind about—"

Alaric swiftly stood up and rammed Istas against the wall. Her head snapped back and hit hard against the surface, leaving her temporarily dizzy. Alaric scrutinized her, studied the smoothness of her skin, her powerful and athletic frame. He became irrepressibly aroused. He could smell the faint traces of her own blood on her. It was vampire blood, but blood nonetheless. It was all over her. The smell along with her own natural musk that was steaming off her skin through her sweat was overwhelming. Alaric couldn't help himself as his eyes turned and he buried his fangs into Istas' neck.

Istas gasped for a moment, Alaric's powerful bite clearing the dizziness she suffered moments before. She struggled against him but he was too strong. She instinctively raised her knee, which found its mark against Alaric's groin. Alaric immediately stopped biting and bent over. Istas looked down at him, the scent of his blood filling her nostrils. With her own fangs coming out, she grabbed his head and bit into it like an apple, blood spurting outwards like a small fountain away from her face.

Alaric shook his head to shake off Istas and her bite. With his own blood cascading down the front of his face, he lunged towards Istas and tied up her arms. He pushed her back against the wall and bit into her shoulder multiple times. Istas began biting into his bicep and shoulder in retaliation.

Neither one of them could seemingly control their bloodlust and fury as they continued their mutual slaughter.

* * *

Caroline looked up at the ceiling, tears welled up in her eyes, blurring her vision. Her own blood started gurgling in her throat and she coughed and spat some of it out. She looked down to her chest to see various pieces of wood impaling her like darts on a dartboard. Some of the pieces went so deep that they pierced her lungs. However, none of them had pierced her heart.

"Sweet Caroline," Bonnie said with a velvet tone as she walked around Caroline's inert body on the floor. "It's not your time yet. Not yet. But we are salivating at the thought. Because you belong to us! You are ours. Because you touched us. Like Bonnie, you teased us. Flirted with us. And we have such plans for you!" Bonnie knelt down and stroked away the stray hairs that covered Caroline's face, and continued caressing her in an almost loving manner.

Bonnie looked over her shoulder, seemingly picking up on the raucous going on downstairs in the living room. "But now is not the time. We have other matters to attend to. We have what we need. And you and your idiot friends are becoming annoying." She looked down to the Ambrosia Ring that Caroline had on her hand. "Ahhh, Ambrosia Rings. Ironic that you should be wearing them to get to us considering we were the ones who crafted them. And while I could just as easily rip this off your finger and let you perish here and now, I think it's far more entertaining to see you mumbling chimps try and kill each other."

Bonnie grabbed Caroline's hand and grasped the Ambrosia Ring. She closed her eyes and began murmuring something under her breath. In the midst of her pain, Caroline could feel a change come over her. It was a fleeting change and she felt normal again, but there was a change nonetheless. She looked up at Bonnie who opened her eyes and once again caressed Caroline's face.

"See you soon, sweet Caroline!" Bonnie said, bending down and placing her mouth over Caroline's, passionately kissing her, ramming her tongue into Caroline's mouth. Caroline gagged from the violent intrusion as well as from the foul taste coming from Bonnie's mouth. It was evident she hadn't brushed her teeth in days, and mingled with Caroline's own blood, the mixture produced a grotesque palate that made Caroline want to vomit.

Caroline managed to push Bonnie away. She spit out both her own blood and the residue of Bonnie's saliva from her mouth. She looked up at Bonnie who was smiling at her. Her mouth covered in Caroline's blood, along with her demonic eyes, made her look some kind of eerie version of Ronald McDonald.

Bonnie waved goodbye and turned her back to walk out of the room. However, she paused ever so briefly.

"Caroline…help!"

It was feint. Barely above a whisper. Caroline wasn't even sure that she had heard it. But it was Bonnie's voice—desperate, earnest and afraid. It was not the way Bonnie had been talking to her all this time. There was no hint of malevolence in it. Caroline looked on as Bonnie walked away.

She reached down and tugged and yanked and pulled out all the splintered wood that were embedded in her chest. After taking the last piece out, she stumbled over in attempt to stand up. She could feel her wounds begin to heal, her lungs clearing up. She took a deep breathe in, and suddenly picked up something else.

The scent of blood. Not human, but blood nonetheless. Her hearing picked up the sounds of Alaric and Istas struggling downstairs.

Caroline vamp-sped downstairs and found Alaric and Istas. Their fighting sparked a primal urge within Caroline. Her fangs began growing out of her mouth. Her eyes began to change. She began salivating at the sight of blood flowing from the both of them. As she wiped her mouth with her arm, anticipating the taste of blood and violence that she was about to enjoy, she saw the Ambrosia Ring on her finger. She suddenly remembered Bonnie's comment on it.

 _The rings. Bonnie did something to the rings!_

Caroline clenched her eyes shut and tried to concentrate. She breathed in deeply, trying to focus away her rage and bloodlust. The sounds of Alaric and Istas grunting and biting each other didn't help. It sounded like some kind of violent, sexual blood orgy between two vampire sadists. The smell of blood and the sound of viciousness was becoming too much for Caroline to block out.

She ran towards Alaric and Istas and pulled them apart with all her might.

"ALARIC! ISTAS! STOP IT! STOP! YOU HAVE TO—"

Alaric and Istas pushed Caroline back as they tried to once again go at each other. Caroline yanked Istas back by her hair and brought her to the ground. She then rushed towards Alaric and slapped him hard across the face.

"ALARIC! STOP! IT'S THE RINGS! WE HAVE TO GET THE RINGS OFF!"

Alaric lunged at Caroline but was once again met with a slap. He stood back and closed his eyes shut. For a brief moment, he found focus and opened his eyes again. "Caroline! We…*ugh*…we have to…run! Don't stop…until we reach—"

Alaric didn't finish as he sped away in a flash. Caroline looked down at Istas, who also clenched her eyes shut. When she opened them, she nodded at Caroline and both of them took off.

* * *

Pacing back and forth along the border to Mystic Falls, Elena looked at the time on her phone. "We should have given them a time limit, or at least a time to check in. Waiting for them could take forever!"

Stefan stood cross armed looking into Mystic Falls. He didn't respond but wholeheartedly agreed with Elena. He kept looking in the distance, waiting for some sign of Caroline or the others.

Elena stopped pacing and turned towards Stefan. "What if they—"

"They'll be fine. So will Damon. Just…we just have to be patient," Stefan said, the impatient tone in his voice quite palpable to Elena and Abby and Luke, who were standing some distance away.

Elena was about to retort when she turned her attention towards Mystic Falls. She and Stefan could hear rapid footsteps coming towards them. It was barely audible, but they were there. By the time the footsteps got loud enough, Alaric had already passed the border, followed swiftly by Caroline and Istas.

All three collapsed on the ground, ripping their Ambrosia Rings from their hands and tossing them away. Panting heavily, they looked up to see Elena, Stefan, Abby…and Luke. The trio suddenly looked like a pack of wild hyenas eyeing an injured gazelle on the plains of Africa. Their eyes turned and their fangs appeared, and before anyone could react, they were on top of Luke, with Alaric biting his neck, Caroline biting his wrist, and Istas biting his thigh. Luke toppled to the ground screaming in pain as his blood and life was quickly being drained from him.

Elena rushed to pry Alaric away. "RIC! STOP! YOU'LL KILL—"

Alaric broke off his feeding to deliver a wicked backhand to Elena that knocked her onto the ground before returning to his feeding frenzy. Stefan ran to Alaric, pulled his head back and twisted it to snap his neck. He did the same with Caroline and Istas in quick succession.

He looked down at Luke, who looked up at him. Luke was blinking incessantly, trying to stay awake and alive.

"Hel…help! Hel…l—"

Stefan's nostrils flared as the familiar iron smell of blood wafted around him. His eyes turned, his fangs extended. He licked his lips as his mouth watered.

"Stefan!" Abby bellowed. She pushed him out of the way and knelt down beside Luke. "Easy. Stay with me, kid!" She bit her hand and fed him some of her blood. Luke began drinking and broke off, breathing in deeply as his bleeding stopped and his wounds started to close.

Elena groggily got up and checked on Luke. She then looked over Caroline, Alaric and Istas. "What happened to them? They were like wild animals—completely out of control!"

Stefan turned and walked away. "I know the feeling."


	9. TVD S6 - Part 1 Ch9

_Hitting the Pause Button_

Bonnie's eyes opened. She looked around, only to see her reflection everywhere.

She licked her lips and tasted them.

 _No blood. But…_

She didn't dream it though. She had been in the Salvatore mansion. She was sure of it. Talking with Caroline.

Tormenting her.

Kissing her.

It was like watching some movie from a hand held camera. A movie that had already been filmed and she couldn't pause it or rewind it or stop it. But she could feel emotions. Some were her own, while others were not. Her own emotions were filled with disgust, sorrow and pain. The other emotions were of malice, perverted joy and hatred.

And yet, in the midst of her despair, she got control. It was brief—barely a second. But she could feel it. She so desperately wanted to yell at Caroline to save her, to tell her what was really happening. And for a minute moment, she did. Somehow, the movie stopped and she got control. She didn't know how but she spoke her own words through her own mouth.

And then, to her sorrow and despair, the movie continued.

 _Declaration of War_

"So he's in the hospital?" asked Matt.

"Yeah. From what I've heard, he's in an induced coma. Possible brain injury. I guess he fell really hard on that helmet," replied Tyler, walking behind Jeremy and Matt as they made their way into the Lockwood mansion.

"Can't believe you did that to the guy," Jeremy interjected, shaking his head. "And all because you took 'roids! That's messed up!"

"Hey!" Tyler exclaimed, shoving Jeremy from behind. "I didn't mean to hurt the guy, okay? And I don't need your judgement over the steroids either!"

"Whoa! Relax! Don't get defensive about it," Jeremy replied, turning around and sizing up Tyler.

Matt got in between the two and separated them. "Hey! Let's not do this, guys. We don't need this right now!"

"I am getting defensive, Jer! You don't know what it's like…you don't know…to…to lose all that—"

Jeremy relaxed and looked downward contemplatively before returning his gaze to Tyler. "Look, maybe I don't know what it's like to go from a hybrid to just a normal guy, but I can understand a little bit. Every time I cross that border, it's like I lose something. Like an energy that's suddenly gone. I feel vulnerable. So maybe I can understand why you did it. No hard feelings, okay?"

Seeing Jeremy extend his hand out for a handshake, Tyler relaxed too and shook his hand. Matt looked on approvingly and unlocked the door to let all three into the mansion.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving," Matt said as he headed into the kitchen. "And thanks to that damn vampire, I don't have a truck anymore!"

As Matt and Jeremy grabbed some leftover take-out from the fridge, Tyler went and turned on the TV.

"Well, not that I could go anywhere as it is, thanks to being on house arrest," said Tyler as he plopped down on the couch, flipping through channels until he got to the local news.

The reporter was already on the scene where their encounter with Valene had gone down. They also reported on the bodies found at the Grill and the missing persons, questioning whether or not it was a new menace descending on their quiet town.

"And that might not be a good thing considering we're under attack!" Tyler remarked offhandedly.

Jeremy and Matt brought some left over cold pizza to the living room and began watching the news report with Tyler.

"We have to tell Alaric about what happened," Matt said.

"Why? What's he going to do about it?" asked Jeremy.

"Well, what are we going to do about it? We have no truck. We have no way to get around other than on foot. We don't even know where Damon and Bonnie and that other vampire are. We have no idea what we're dealing with here, Jer!"

"And neither does Alaric! Look, he can't even get into Mystic Falls. We can and we do know what we're dealing with. Vampires! Plain and simple."

"Is it?" Matt asked.

"So what are you suggesting?" asked Tyler.

Jeremy went upstairs and then returned with his crossbow, some arrows and stakes.

"I'm a Hunter, even inside of Mystic Falls. It's time to do what I was called to do."

Matt sighed. He walked over to Jeremy and grabbed one of the stakes. "What about Alaric and Elena? We can't just go and hunt down Damon without letting them know about it?"

Jeremy moved past Matt and stared at the news report. He gripped his crossbow while slightly grinding his teeth.

"We may have no choice. Like Tyler said, we're under attack. And we're the only ones who can do something about it."

Tyler looked up at Jeremy from the couch. "What about Bonnie?"

Jeremy stood silent for a moment. He put down his crossbow, grabbed a slice of cold pizza and took a bite. He put the slice down and walked towards the window, chewing while staring to the outside.

"It's not her," Jeremy finally responded. "I don't know who that is, but it's not her. If she's in there, we have to save her."

"And if we can't?" Tyler asked.

Jeremy stared at Tyler and then picked up the crossbow. "Then we have to set her free."

"Jer," Matt said, sympathetically.

Resolute, Jeremy went into the kitchen and grabbed a laptop sitting on the kitchen counter. He returned and handed it over to Tyler. "We don't have Matt's truck anymore and we're going to have to be able to get around quickly. See what you can do about getting us some wheels."

"Me?" retorted Tyler. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"Your parents were both former mayors of this town. And you're the last of the Lockwoods, a respected Founding Family. I'm sure you can call in a few favours and pull a few strings to get us a cheap ride."

Tyler glared at Jeremy as he grabbed the laptop and opened it up, looking at nearby car dealerships.

Jeremy marched over to Matt, grabbed the stake from his hand, and then looked at him. "We're going to war, and we need some weapons to do it. C'mon on."

Jeremy motioned Matt towards the garage. Matt looked at Tyler who raised an eyebrow before returning to his laptop.

 _Temptation Rising_

"They're still out," Elena commented, shaking her head as she stared at the unconscious bodies of Alaric, Caroline and Istas. "They should have recovered by now."

"Perhaps the rings did something to them," replied Abby, looking at the trio as they sat in the backseat of Alaric's car.

The soft glow of the afternoon sun was already signalling its departure from the sky and marking the beginning of evening. Elena, Abby and Stefan stood outside of Alaric's car in an isolated patch of the highway away from Mystic Falls and any other centre of civilization, just in case whatever bloodlust that Alaric, Caroline and Istas still had, that they wouldn't put any innocent people in danger. Luke had already left them to recover from their attack, and also to try and find Liv and perhaps his mentor, Nisha, to see about altering the Ambrosia Rings to diminish the effects of the dark magic on its wearer. But at the insistence of Elena, he was forced to leave the rings with her.

Elena opened the box where the rings were held. She ran her finger over the emblem on one of them, looking up and gazing into the distance at Mystic Falls. "I hope they wake up soon. We have to know what happened with Damon and Bonnie."

"Whatever it was that happened, it must not have been good. The blood stains on them imply something really bad happened in there. I can't tell if that's their blood or someone else's. Luke's blood is too mingled in there to say for sure," Stefan said.

"What about your phone? Is it still located in the mansion?" asked Elena.

Stefan checked the app on Caroline's phone. "Looks like it's still there."

"For whatever good that does us. We still can't get in and we obviously can't use those rings. We've seen the effect they have," Abby said.

"Do you think Luke might be able to do something about the rings, Abby?" Elena asked.

"—*sigh*—I don't know. We're dealing with different kinds of magic here that it's really hard to say what's going to work and what won't. I've never even heard of these Ambrosia Rings, let alone would even know how to manipulate them. They seem steeped in really old magic, older than anything I've ever known. I don't know if Luke or Liv would really know either."

Elena turned around in frustration and began walking up and down the highway, hugging herself as though she were cold. She once again stared in the direction of Mystic Falls, a scowl slowly overtaking her face as the annoyance of not knowing what was happening with Damon began to well up inside of her.

A slight growl could be heard amongst them, and both Elena and Stefan turned to Abby, who clutched at her stomach.

"Sorry. I didn't realize how I hungry was," she sheepishly replied.

Stefan smiled reassuringly. "None of us have eaten much. I'm feeling hunger pangs myself."

Elena's eyes lit up as she, with slight exuberance, walked over to Stefan and Abby. "We passed a diner on the way here. Stefan, why don't you go and get us something to eat? Maybe get something extra in case Alaric and them wake up."

"And if they do? I don't want you and Abby to be in any danger if they're out of control again."

"Don't worry. We have some of Alaric's vervain darts in the trunk. We'll be fine."

Stefan nodded, visibly unsure of leaving the two of them, but trusting Elena all the same.

As Stefan's figure disappeared along the horizon of the highway, Elena went into the trunk and grabbed some vervain darts.

"Do you really think we'll need those?" asked Abby as she watched Elena gather up the darts.

Elena smiled while looking at her. "I hope not."

 _Siblings of Yin and Yang_

As she stepped towards the border to Mystic Falls, Liv couldn`t help but marvel at the power she felt. Everything seemed new. Everything seemed different. She imagined that it was the same kind of rush that a newly created vampire would feel upon turning. Except for her, her connection to Nature itself was heightened. The connection to magic was heightened—all magic. Much like a vampire could taste the difference between types of blood, so too could she feel the difference between the Traveler magic spell and the traditional magic she had practiced her whole life. Even this new magic that she had learned and absorbed from the Red Dragon grimoire was different from the other two. It was more potent, more powerful, more charged. It filled her with an energy that her own coven's magic could never hope to match.

She sauntered over to border and put her hand up to the invisible, magical wall. It was like putting her hand up to a thin wall of water, the tactile sensation was real. There was a tingling and warmth that she felt. Ever so subtle, but she could feel something. She pulled her hand away and looked at it. There was nothing there even though she felt like there should have been, like some kind of residue should have been left on her hand.

Liv stepped through the wall and into Mystic Falls. Again, she looked at her clothes, patting her arms and legs to feel any moisture or anything to suggest something was left on her, but there was nothing. However, she could feel her own magic was still with her. The Traveler spell apparently had no effect on the magic she had learned from the grimoire.

She could also feel something else—their presence. She was told she would by the creepy bearded man.

As she recollected her encounter with him, her body began to shiver all over. She didn't know why, but she was instantly afraid of him. Outwardly, there was no reason to be. He was less than ordinary; a balding, short, bearded old man with a fat belly and no fashion sense whatsoever. When he came to her at her dorm, he stood at her door with Prussian blue sneakers, brown corduroy pants, a navy blue golf shirt and crimson red bowling jacket. His head was bald save for some scraggly greying hair around the back and edges, and his beard that was so thick and disheveled that she instantly imagined all the food and other grotesque things that might be stuck in there. He looked at her with thick aviator glasses that went out of style in the 80's.

He was the epitome of what she thought of as a middle aged loser. She could easily see him being some kind of lonely virgin living in his mother's basement; a socially awkward loner who probably never got laid and gave every attractive woman he met the 'pervert alarm' because his entire image just screamed pathetic desperation.

And yet, when she looked into his eyes, she saw none of that. When she was standing in his presence, she didn't feel desperation but rather absolute power and authority, along with hatred and malice. She couldn't explain how or why. The only other moment she had felt something similar was when she and Luke had travelled to Chicago to see a friend, who by chance had gotten entangled with the Mafia. The Mafia boss had paid her friend a visit and she felt the same vibes of power and authority from him that she felt from the creepy bearded man. The feeling that he had absolute power, of not only himself but of others, and that he could change the lives of anyone he chose to with a snap of his fingers and a command to his soldiers.

But there was something else with the creepy bearded man; something…otherworldly. Even her encounters with vampires, werewolves and warlocks never gave her the sensation she was getting from him. It was his eyes that drove that sensation home. Looking into his eyes was like looking into darkness itself. Not a void or an empty space but darkness, where not even the slightest speck of light, love, or hope could ever be found.

In addition to the Ambrosia Rings, he gave additional commands that were clear—and non-negotiable. Liv would seek out Damon, Bonnie and Valene and eliminate them and any others "like them" and destroy the gateway to the Abyss that they had opened up. He never answered the myriad of questions that she had, other than telling her that she would know—or rather feel—who "they" were when she met them.

And Liv knew she had to obey. He didn't threaten her. He didn't have to. She just knew.

Standing in Mystic Falls, she could feel both the gateway and Damon and Bonnie, unnatural anomalies causing vibrations along Nature's web that Liv could sense. Night was rapidly approaching and she didn't want to have to hunt down all three of them separately. She marched back to her car when she was hit by the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. The driver blared the car's horn and Liv stood still. The car came to a halt and shut off. The driver side door opened with Luke stepping out.

"There you are!" Luke bellowed. "I checked back at your dorm room and you weren't there. You weren't answering your phone or anything. I had to do a damn locator spell to find you!"

"What do you want, Luke?" Liv replied, her face clearly showing signs of her dissatisfaction of seeing Luke there.

"I want answers! Those damn rings you gave me almost got me killed!"

"What? You put one on?"

"No! But Alaric and Caroline and that Amazon freak put them on and went into Mystic Falls, only to return and try to shred me apart!"

Liv's face softened. "They attacked you? Luke, I…I didn't know that would happen."

"Didn't you?"

"How could you ask me that question? You're my brother. I don't want to see you hurt."

"I don't know what to believe anymore, Liv. You're being secretive. Alaric and them are attacking me. Damon and Bonnie are wandering around Mystic Falls somehow. And I'm in the dark about what's going on. And—"

As Luke walked closer to Liv, his eyes finally adjusted to the darkness of twilight and his face contorted with surprise and confusion. She was dressed in black sneakers, black leather pants, a black suede jacket and dark grey V-neck top that was flashing some serious cleavage.

"—and what are you wearing?! What…are you taking fashion tips from Nisha now?"

"Again with the critiques? I don't have time for this!" Liv replied, brushing past Luke on her way to her car.

Luke grabbed her arm and yanked her closer. "I deserve some answers, Liv! What's going on? Why are you at the border on this side of town? You know that Elena and her friends wouldn't be here. What are you trying to pull?"

"The only one doing any pulling around here is you! Let go of my arm!"

Luke let go, with a flash of grief covering his face. Liv looked at him and her anger melted away. She grabbed one of his hands in between the two of hers and held it up to her lips. She looked at him, with tears pooling in her eyes.

"Luke…I…I wish I could tell you right now what's going on. And trust me, when this is over, I will! I will!" she said as she gripped his hand tighter. "But I can't right now. What I'm into is dark—really dark. I didn't know it would be. But Nisha came to me with this and now I'm in it. And I don't want you to be. I need you to be…clean…for lack of a better word. In case I need you to pull me back!"

"Damn it, Liv! What are you into? I want to help!"

Liv let go of his hand and walked away, wiping her eyes. She ran her fingers through her hair in frustration and looked at Mystic Falls. "You want to help? Okay. Then I need you to do something. Create a boundary spell around Mystic Falls."

"What? Why? There's a Traveler spell already there. What's the point of creating a boundary spell?"

"Because I'm afraid of that Traveler spell coming down. And whatever is that town cannot be let out. So make a boundary spell…and make it strong!"

Luke looked over at Mystic Falls. "And what is in there?"

"I don't know. I swear I don't. But I have to find out and try and eliminate it. And if I don't, then I need your boundary spell as a backup."

"You want me to lock you in there? Our magic doesn't work in there, Liv."

"Our magic doesn't work. But MY magic will!"

Liv got in her car and revved it up. She slowly drove past Luke and drew the window down. "Do this for me, Luke. When this is all said and done, I'll tell you everything. I promise."

With a reassuring smile, she drove past him and into Mystic Falls.

Luke looked on as Liv's car disappeared along the horizon. With pain and grief in his heart, he walked back to his car and popped the trunk open. Even though he didn't really trust Liv, her request seemed genuine. He gathered the supplies he needed to create a boundary spell around Mystic Falls.

As he did so, he glanced at his knapsack that contained the Red Dragon grimoire he had found it lying on Liv's bed when he went to look for her in her dorm room.

 _That Hand That Was Dealt_

The aroma of frying burgers, greasy fries and freshly brewed coffee wafted into Stefan's nostrils as he walked into the diner. A couple of families seated at the tables, while truckers and a couple of bikers seated at the counter completed the typical scene of an American roadside diner.

As Stefan approached and stared at the menu on the wall, his attention was caught with laughs and chuckles being exchanged between some of the truckers and bikers and the young girl behind the counter. Stefan peered over the counter to see a teenager with Down Syndrome flipping burgers and preparing other food with startling adeptness, all the while giggling with embarrassment and pride at the compliments and comments the truckers and bikers were paying her for her cooking prowess.

"What can I get for ya, stranger?" the woman behind cash register asked with a Southern drawl.

"Uh, I've never been here before. What do you recommend?"

"Heh, heh! Don't ask me that. I'm always recommendin' mah daughter's specialty. Judy's Special is what we call it. Best burger combo you're gonna get this side of the U-S of A!"

Stefan smiled as he looked over at the young girl. "That's Judy, I take it?"

The woman looked over and smiled proudly. "That's her alright. She just looooves to cook for people. Loves it even more when they like what they eat and let her know it!"

The two bikers at the counter finished their meal and got up to leave. But they stopped at the end of the counter and looked over in Judy's direction. Judy saw them and immediately stopped what she was doing and giddily rushed over to them. Each of the bikers smiled as they bent over to give Judy a hug and a kiss.

The woman chuckled as she noted the look of confusion on Stefan's face. "That's part of the price you pay for Judy's Special. We don't charge a lot for it because one of the things you have t' do is give a big hug and a kiss to the cook herself. It's probably what makes Judy's Special so special!"

Stefan stood in awe as these two burly, tattooed and menacing bikers completely betrayed their image by happily embracing Judy.

"Delicious as always, Judy. You take care of yourself now, ya hear?" said one of the bikers to her. Both bikers smiled at her as they walked out of the diner.

"I'll take five Judy Specials to go, please," Stefan said once the bikers had left the diner.

"Five Judy Specials comin' right up," replied the woman, punching the order into the register. "Hey Jude! Ya got some cookin' ta do. Five of your specials, please."

Judy excitedly returned to the grill and started cooking. Stefan watched as she deftly placed the patties on the grill, then turning around and dicing up the lettuce and tomatoes, then focusing on her special sauce. Everything seemed like second nature to her. She was in a zone that no one could touch her in.

"She's quite amazing at it," Stefan said, off-handedly.

"She loves t' cook. We're lookin' to get her into a cookin' school. Her dream is to go on that show with that cook who cusses a lot, Gordon what's-his-name? That Master Chef show? That's what she wants t' do. An' she's gonna do it too! She never accepted the hand that was dealt t' her. Heh! She never even knew she was dealt a bad hand! She's just always lookin' ta do the things that folks thought she could never do," the woman said, a proud smile appearing on her lips. "She'll fight the rest of her life against what she has, but I think she'd have it no other way. Strangest thing she said t' me once. She said she liked the fight 'cos it meant she was still alive! Do ya get that?" The woman shook her head in confused delight.

Stefan got it though. Once the burgers were done, the woman put them in a bag and Stefan paid his money. He walked to the end of the counter and waited expectantly for Judy to come and give him a hug.

Judy happily obliged and ran into his arms. "Thank you, mister."

"No, Judy. Thank you," Stefan said, hugging her with appreciative warmth while desperately trying to keep his voice from cracking. "You've taught me a lot."

Stefan kissed Judy on the cheek, smiled as he watched her giddily return to the grill, and then exited the diner.

He was surprised to see how quickly night had fallen. Stefan hurried back to Alaric's car, only to find that he couldn't see Abby or Elena anywhere near it. As he got closer, he saw a body lying next to the car. He rushed over to see that it was Abby, unconscious and with a vervain dart in her back. Stefan looked around and saw the box with the Ambrosia Rings on the ground, with one of the rings missing. He looked over his shoulder towards the direction of Mystic Falls.

"Elena!" he muttered indignantly.

The back doors of Alaric's car suddenly opened. Alaric and Caroline both stumbled out, groggily leaning against the car, blinking incessantly as they looked around.

"Wha—what happened? Where are we?" Alaric asked.

"No time to explain," Stefan said as he reached for an Ambrosia Ring. "Abby's been hit with a vervain dart. Stay with her until she recovers and then meet me at the border."

"Wait! What's going on, Stefan?" asked Caroline.

"Elena's gone into Mystic Falls. I think she went to go and find Damon. I have to stop her."

"You're not putting on one of those rings! They're too powerful. You can't handle it," Caroline implored while trying to walk over to Stefan but losing her balance, eventually leaning against the car again while grasping at her head.

"Trust me, Caroline," Stefan said while clutching the ring. "I know what it is to fight my dark side. Just see to Abby and then meet me at the border."

In a flash, Stefan was gone.

 _Enter the Sorceress_

As she walked into Salvatore Mansion, Liv could feel their presence intensify. But she didn't need to look for them. Damon and Valene were in the main living room in front of the fireplace, messily feeding on a couple of Mystic Falls locals. Bonnie was at the liquor table, looking over an old grimoire. They all looked up, their golden demonic eyes shining brighter than the fire behind them, giving them an ominous look.

"Well, well, well! How quaint. Looks like it's a bosom blonde for dessert!" said Damon grinning, the bottom half of his face swathed in blood. He contemptuously threw aside the body he was feeding on and slowly approached Liv.

"No," replied Valene, holding Damon back. "It's her! It's the Sorceress! The one who will help us!"

Valene began to approach Liv, but before she could touch her, Liv raised her hand towards the vampire. Valene immediately flew back and slammed hard against the wall. Shock and anger was plastered all over Valene's face as she recovered from the blow.

"You DARE?!" Valene screamed. She rushed towards Liv. But with a twist of Liv's hand, Valene was suddenly lit up in flames. She screeched and howled as she stumbled across the living room, eventually vamp-speeding towards the bathroom where she turned on the shower to quell the flames.

"Wow! It's just not been her day to be playing with fire, has it?" Damon said, chuckling.

Bonnie approached Liv with her hands already clutched to conjure a spell. Liv raised her other hand and Bonnie's right wrist suddenly broke—then her elbow—then her shoulder—then her other wrist, elbow and shoulder—then her ankles were twisted in the wrong direction—then her knees were bent backwards. Bonnie collapsed in a heap of pain and torment as she screamed as her body remained mangled and distorted on the floor like some modern art sculpture.

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, ha, ha, HA, HA, HA! Excellent!" exclaimed Damon, clapping. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and then walked past a convulsing Bonnie, arriving at the liquor table and pouring himself a drink. "You've certainly come a long way, Goldilocks!"

Even the small distance between them didn't diminish the sensation that Liv was getting from Damon. It was the same sensation that she felt with the creepy bearded man. But the atmosphere was slightly different. It was more stifling and colder. She could smell something in the air but she couldn't pinpoint what it was or where it was coming from. And as for Damon, Bonnie, they didn't look like the creepy bearded man. Their faces were more pale and ashen grey, with cracks and lines appearing everywhere on their skin as though they were made of stone. Valene seemed different. For whatever reason, she looked normal. But the vibe she was getting from them all was the same nonetheless. They emitted darkness.

Damon chugged back a shot of whiskey. "And so now I suppose you're here to destroy us, yessssss?"

"That's the order," Liv replied, emotionless.

"And whose order was it?"

Liv's eyes and face went blank. She didn't even know his name. She couldn't give an answer that made sense, even to her.

"He didn't tell you who he was, did he? Of course he didn't," Damon said, staring away from Liv as though he was talking to himself. "That's never been how he's worked. And where did that get him? Where did that get US?!"

Seething, Damon poured himself another drink and then jumped from the liquor table onto the back of one of the living room chairs. He balanced himself on the frame and stayed there, perched like a bird on a wire. "And what did he promise you for your loyal service?"

Again, Liv couldn't answer. Damon chuckled as he noted the vacant look on Liv's face.

"Of course, he didn't promise anything. And even if he did, it would have been a lie. So you're doing this out of some sense of fear, right?"

Damon took a swig of his whiskey and looked at Liv. "Do you know who we are? What we are?"

"I'm beginning to get a sense of it now," replied Liv.

"A sense!? A SENSE?!," Damon protested, viciously hurling the whiskey glass against the wall. "WE—ARE—THE SOVEREIGNTY! WE ARE THE NEW ORDER!" His voice took on a more bass tone, with each word underlined by a slight growl. He breathed in and calmed down a bit. "And we are on the side of victory. Your…benefactor…is on the side of defeat, as he always been and always will be. And so are you if you choose to go with him."

"So, what are you saying? You want me to join your side? Seems to me like you and my so-called benefactor are one and the same. Why should I trust you over him?"

"When you go on a first date with the Devil, you're putting out at the end of the night, whether you want to or not! With ussss? You'll put out, but only because you want to!"

"Sounds like the end result is still the same," Liv said, unimpressed. She extended her hand out towards Damon. An invisible force pulled him off the chair and onto the floor. He was then suddenly lifted off the floor and suspended in the air.

"I've learned to extract any spirit from its host's body. I haven't had enough practice to do it without killing the host. But then again, I never really cared much for Damon Salvatore. You and your friends are going back into the gateway which you opened."

Damon's body began to convulse and tremble in midair. He could feel his body being ripped apart, the spirit within him being pulled out. Damon's eyes were wide and began to bulge as his mouth began to fill with blood.

"Wait! WAAAAAIT!" Damon pleaded. "You want to know…the…*gah*…the difference? We share…power! We share it! He won't share anything. His pride…his ego…it's what has been…his…downfall. And it will be…yours too! He won't allow you to live with your powers. He won't! But we…we will…*arrggghhh*…WE WILL! Once you've…served your purpose…your purpose for him…you will die! Believe me! YOU WILL DIIIIIIIE!"

Liv halted the extraction. She immediately thought of the Mafia boss that she had met in Chicago. She had heard stories of him using people and then disposing of them once they had served their purpose. She could easily see the creepy bearded man doing the same with her.

She dropped Damon and sauntered past Bonnie and went to pour herself a glass of bourbon at the liquor table. With the creepy bearded man, Liv sensed absolute authority. She could tell it was not to be questioned, even by the most powerful of personalities. She didn't know why or how but it was the impression that she got. But Damon and Bonnie were different. While the hatred, malice and darkness was there, the absolute authority was not. They were followers who were trying to become leaders, which meant that they could be manipulated, while the creepy bearded man could not.

Liv took a swig of bourbon, flung her blonde curls back and looked at Damon. "So what are you guys planning to do? And why should I help you?"

Damon slowly got up and smiled. He straightened his leather jacket and cracked his neck. "It's quite simple, really. We—"

He swiftly looked towards the door. He kept staring at it, with Liv eventually looking at the door as well, though she saw nothing there. But Damon's smile widened as his eyes glistened with obvious glee. Both of their attention was then drawn towards Bonnie who was slowly snapping her bones back into place.

"I'll leave it to my colleague here to explain everything to you. She can talk to you, witch to witch! Me? Seems like we have a bit of a romantic _rendezvous_ to attend to. If you'll excuse us!"

Damon bowed and then disappeared in an instant, while Bonnie sluggishly got up and glared at Liv who poured herself another glass of bourbon, raised an eyebrow and flashed a grin and a wink at Bonnie.

 _Love Triangle_

Elena paced back and forth along the road at the border to Mystic Falls. Wringing her hands, mumbling to herself, cursing under breath, she stared into Mystic Falls and then away in the opposite direction.

 _What have I done? How could I have done that to Abby? What am I doing?!_

Elena turned around and began marching away from the town. She stopped suddenly, closed her eyes and lifted her head skyward, breathing out a big sigh.

 _I can't leave. I have to know what happened to him._

She turned around again and marched to the border. She pulled out the Ambrosia Ring that was in her pocket and slipped it on her finger. Elena immediately fell down to one knee as the effect of the ring took over.

As she got up, her emotions slowly began swirling into a tornado of anger and resentment.

Anger at Alaric for stopping her from going into Mystic Falls with him.

Anger at Stefan for picking Caroline over her to give the ring to.

Anger at Caroline for not sticking up for her.

Anger at Jeremy for not even trying to forgive Damon for what he had done.

Anger at Istas for just generally being a bitch to her.

Anger at Abby for caring more about saving Bonnie rather than both Bonnie and Damon.

She became angry at everyone.

Elena marched across the border and then stood still, closing her eyes. She held her breath as she awaited the sensations and effects of drowning that she had felt when Damon had pulled her over before. She waited and waited, but nothing happened. Elena smiled as she realized that the rings did indeed work. She took a step forward and opened her eyes but was stopped in her tracks.

"Damon?"

Damon stood before her, smiling. "Elena! You made it. I knew you could do it."

Elena rushed into Damon's arms. As opposed to before when the shock of seeing him and the Traveler spell ruined the moment, Elena was able to enjoy her reunion. She squeezed him tightly and then leaned forward to kiss him. She kissed him hard, passionately, violently. She could taste blood on his lips—human blood. It ignited a hunger and lust that began mingling with the sexual side of those emotions, bringing her to near orgasm. The climax of the moment overwhelmed her that she forced herself to break off from Damon, lest she lost complete control then and there.

Elena panted as she gazed at Damon. She was a mix of emotions, wanting to love him, bang him, bite him, beat him, kill with him, kill for him, feed with him, do every dark activity with him that ever grazed the periphery of her thought process during her wickedest moments. As she continued to heave in, she breathed in his scent. However, it wasn't the same musk that she had been used to. It was different—a smell that she couldn't identify.

She looked at his face and was startled. His skin was ashen grey with multiple cracks and lines appearing everywhere. She traced one of the lines on his face with her finger. "What happened to you? What's going on with your skin?"

"Bonnie's spell is losing its power. I don't know how much longer we have before we waste away. That's why we need your blood. And Stefan's too. We need you, Elena. I need you!"

"How did you know I'd be here?"

"I felt you approaching," Damon said, lifting her hand that had the Ambrosia Ring on it. "I just…felt you approaching."

Elena looked down at the ring. "I just had to see you. When Alaric and Caroline came back, they didn't tell us what had happened. They lost control and attacked Luke. We had to snap their necks to stop them and they haven't woken up since."

Damon smiled. "Is that so?"

"What happened, Damon?"

"I'll tell you all about it at the mansion. Come! Bonnie will be so happy to see you!"

Damon grabbed Elena's hand and turned around, starting to lead her back towards the town.

"ELENA!"

Both Damon and Elena turned to see Stefan standing outside the border.

"Stefan?"

"Brother!" Damon exclaimed, grinning. "This night just keeps getting better and better!"

"Elena, get away from him!" barked Stefan, his upper lip curled in a snarl.

"Are we at this again? We've been over this before, brother."

"Save it! I'm not buying it. Elena, come with me!"

"No!" Elena protested, sidling up next to Damon and putting her head on his chest. "Damon and Bonnie are in trouble and we have to help them. If you're not willing to do that, then go back to Alaric while Damon and I find a solution ourselves."

"You're not going with Damon!"

"You can't stop me!"

"Wanna bet?" Stefan said raising an eyebrow, stepping over the border into Mystic Falls.

Elena looked on in shock as Stefan walked towards her and Damon, not suffering any effects of the Traveler spell. She approached Stefan and lifted up his hand to see an Ambrosia Ring on his finger. "Stefan! What are you doing? This ring will destroy you!"

"I had to do it."

Damon chuckled as he walked towards Stefan and Elena. "Well, isn't this just a typical scenario? Elena wants to be with me while Stefan does everything in his power to win her back to his side. Haven't you figured it out yet, Stefan? She doesn't want YOU! She wants ME!"

"This isn't about that anymore. This is about saving her…and you."

"Do I look like someone who needs to be saved?!" Damon asked. "But we do need help. We need blood. Yours and hers. Which is why it's so ironic for you to show up here and now, hoping to save her, because you're going to be helping us!"

Stefan gritted his teeth as his eyes rolled back into his head. He closed his eyes while clenching and unclenching his fists. Beads of sweat started appearing on his forehead as he breathed in deeply through his nostrils.

"Heh, heh, heh! Looks like someone is having a bit of a struggle with his ring. What's the matter, Stefan? Feeling a little…Ripperish?"

Damon grabbed Elena's arm and pulled her sleeve back. His fangs protruded from his mouth and quickly disappeared into Elena's wrist. She gasped as he drank a little from her wrist. He whipped out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the blood of her wrist.

"This is what it's all about, Stefan. Blood! Her blood. Your blood. We need it. And apparently, so do you!"

Damon shoved the bloody handkerchief into Stefan's nostrils. "Breathe it in, brother! Savour the aroma. It's not human but it's close enough. Let the Ripper come out and play!"

Stefan pushed Damon's hand away in disgust. He continued to clench his eyes and jaw shut, tensing every muscle in his body, fighting the effects of the Ambrosia Ring.

"Damon, stop it! He needs help," Elena said, trying to help Stefan remain upright.

"You're right, Elena. We'll take him back to Bonnie. I'm sure she can help the both of you with the effects of those rings. What do you say, brother?"

With gnashing teeth and furious eyes, Stefan glared at Damon. "Agreed…brother!"

In a flash, Stefan grabbed Elena's hand and ripped off the Ambrosia Ring on her finger. He then launched her into the air with every ounce of strength he had, making sure that she cleared the border with room to spare. Elena landed roughly thirty yards away from where Stefan and Damon stood. She crashed onto the pavement of the highway and continued to tumble along before coming to a stop. With a broken arm and cracked skull, Elena remained motionless on the ground.

"AHA HA HA HA HA HA! Always with the damn heroics, eh little brother?" Damon uttered, grabbing Stefan by the throat and lifting him off the ground, his demonic eyes lighting up. "We're going to see what we can do about that!"

Damon and Stefan disappeared. Elena slowly regained consciousness and struggled to get up. She looked over to where Damon and Stefan once stood and stumbled along the road to get closer to the border. Clutching her broken arm, she began to weep as neither Stefan nor Damon was anywhere in sight.

"Damon! DAMON!" Elena cried, breathing in deeper with every shout of his name. "DAAAMOOOOONNN!"


	10. TVD S6 - Part 1 Ch10

_Loving the Hate_

"Stefan!"

Damon opened his eyes and shuddered while struggling on the floor in the mirror room. He was still immobilized, so at best he could only move a miniscule amount. His muscles all over his body tensed as he tried to move. His rapid and heavy breathing and sweating were the only reward that he got for his efforts.

"Are you okay?" asked Bonnie beside him.

"Bonnie? How is that you're here again?"

Bonnie sighed. "I don't know. I've given up on asking those kinds of questions. Sometimes I wake up alone. Sometimes I'm here with you. It doesn't make sense."

Damon closed his eyes and breathed in deeply and slowly, trying to rid himself of the negative emotions he had just felt upon seeing Stefan's face.

"What did you see, Damon? You blurted out Stefan's name."

"I saw him…and Elena. We were all in Mystic Falls. It's…it's bits and pieces but that what I remember seeing."

"I saw Liv Parker, albeit briefly. But it was weird. When I saw her, there were these weird emotions that accompanied her image. It was like feelings of embarrassment and extreme anger…and pain. Like she said or did something that our…hosts…didn't like at all."

"Humph! That just breaks my heart!" Damon said with heavy sarcasm.

Bonnie chuckled. They both then lay in silence, staring up at the mirror ceiling looking at nothing in particular.

"It's too bad we can't damage them ourselves," Damon said.

" I…think we can," Bonnie replied, unsure of whether she should say anything or not.

"How?"

"Something happened earlier."

"What?"

"I'm not sure. I just remember being in a room with Caroline. She was being…tortured or something. By me, maybe? Anyways, I just cried out for help, and all of a sudden, it was like I was me again. For a brief moment, it was like I was back in my own body, in the Salvatore mansion with Caroline. I cried out to Caroline for help."

Damon's face contorted. "Are you sure you weren't just imagining it?"

"Maybe. But it was definitely a different experience. I think broke through, Damon."

"Yeah? But how?"

"I don't know! I just…fought, I guess."

"You make it sound like we haven't been fighting all this time."

Bonnie glared at Damon in the ceiling mirror. "Have we been really fighting them, Damon? Or have we been giving in?"

"You think I like what they've been doing to me?"

Bonnie raised an eyebrow. "I did see a naked Katherine, or something that looked like Katherine, get on top of you. Don't tell me that that was oh-so-torturous!"

Damon glared back at Bonnie in the mirror. "And you? I've seen the look on your face when they've got you in the zone. Same look you had before when you working with that Expression magic."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bonnie retorted, her eyebrows furrowing.

"I remember Bon Bon," Damon said, sneering. "When Elena attacked you with her humanity off and you took her down…that look in your eyes and face? Absolute power! The arrogance, the smugness…I'd seen it on the face of thousands of vampires and witches over the years. Even myself. It was power and you loved it. It's a rush. Believe me, I know! And I see you getting it here too. Whatever they're doing, they're feeding you that rush. I can see it in your face! Hell, I can even feel it coming from you. I don't know how but I can. Lying next to you, I feel it sometimes."

Bonnie's lower jaw protruded out, almost pouting, as she looked away, her eyes narrowing at Damon's stinging barb of truth. She finally nodded her head and looked back at him.

"You're right, Damon. You're right. It did feel good. Actually, it felt great! To finally be able to take one of you down with ease, one of you vampires who so casually and callously fed on others without a second thought because you felt like it…to make you feel the kind of pain that you made me feel…it felt great! And maybe I'm getting that here too, but I'm also getting pain and torment and suffering. Not only me, but who knows what they're doing to my Grams? Whatever rush I'm getting, it's not worth it. And for a brief moment, so ever a brief moment, there was something I wanted beyond that rush—beyond worrying about my Grams—beyond avoiding their punishments."

"And what was that?" Damon asked, his eyes flickering with curiosity.

"To be free! When I saw Caroline, it was like I was looking through a glass window or something. And while I could hear her and see her, I knew I couldn't talk to her. I knew I couldn't interact with her," Bonnie replied, her voice beginning to crack. "And I wanted to so badly! I wanted to yell at her for help. At that moment, there was nothing…NOTHING…that I wanted more than for her to hear me. And I think she did."

"Pfft!" Damon mocked. "All I've ever wanted to do was get out of here too and I'm still here! So I don't think that's the answer."

"No. You and I, we both are holding onto something. I feel it from you too. And I feel it from myself. And they are taking advantage of it. We're not helpless here. We have to—"

A black shape suddenly wandered into their peripheral view.

The Warden was back.

 _The Keymaster and the Gatekeeper_

With the blanket of evening finally settling on Mystic Falls, Bonnie and Liv approached the pentagram that served as the gateway to the Abyss. While Bonnie was content to let the bright moonlight serve as her sole source of illumination, Liv held up her phone's flashlight to help light her way.

A soft breeze would occasionally blow her curly blonde hair into her face, annoyingly muddling her vision. The breeze, however, was the only activity that betrayed the stillness and tranquility of the environment. It was that very tranquility that bothered Liv. It was horribly inversed. Liv, as a witch and a servant of Nature, had a communion with Nature and could get a sense of it wherever she went. But here, the tranquility was disgustingly unnatural. There were no birds chirping or insects playing their natural nocturnal symphony. There were no critters scurrying about under the blanket of darkness replaying their nightly routines. The stars seemed not to twinkle at all, but rather looked like a white dots painted in the sky. Other than the breeze, there was no activity other than from Liv and Bonnie that would suggest anything was even alive in the vicinity.

As the pair approached the pentagram, Liv's senses started burning. Indeed, the power that she was feeling from the gateway was akin to the heat one would feel from the opening to a volcano. And yet, as she got closer, even though it felt like she would burn away into ashes, she didn't. The pentagram itself looked faded, almost as though it were burnt into the ground, covered by twigs and leaves and other debris. But as she looked into it, her perception was different. It felt like she was looking into a whirlpool, as though energies and matter were spiralling down into a deep and dark bottomless void where nothing would return. She shivered and started teetering, shaking her head and trying to stop herself from falling over.

"So here it is—the gateway," Bonnie said.

"Where does it go to, exactly?" Liv asked, teetering on the edge of the pentagram, stretching her neck as though she were trying to look into the center of it without falling in.

"To our penitentiary. To where we now have new inmates in the form of those who were once on the Other Side. As we speak, we're trying to…recruit them. But some are proving more stubborn than others. We've not been able to bring any over though," Bonnie replied, looking upwards and around. "The Traveler spell is making the opening of the gateway unstable."

"Recruit? What…vampires?"

"Vampires, witches, werewolves. They are all welcome and they will all have a role to play. Eventually however, we will require an immortal body to dwell in."

"An immortal body? So…you're going to make everyone a vampire? And what about humanity on this side of the veil? What's in store for all of us?"

Bonnie smirked as she slowly blinked, shooting a look at Liv that barely conveyed the malevolent intent that the Sovereignty had for the human race.

Realizing Bonnie wasn't going to answer, Liv bent down and touched the pentagram. From the energy the pentagram was emitting, she expected it to be physically hot, but it was as cold as ice. She rubbed the dirt in between her fingers as she continued to look over the pentagram itself.

"I wonder…" Liv muttered to herself.

She had never encountered something like this before, a doorway into another dimension. But the energies from the gateway were seemingly running along the same lines as the energy she absorbed from the Red Dragon grimoire. She wanted to see what would happen if that gateway opened. A part of her was screaming not to do it, not to open a portal into Hell itself. But as a way to gauge her own power, as a sign of goodwill towards her new allies, and as a means to satisfy her ravenous curiosity, she began to concentrate.

The lines on the pentagram suddenly began to glow a bright, ember red and orange. Liv and Bonnie stood back and looked on in amazement as the entire pentagram began to light up as though someone had just turned the power on. Suddenly, along the glowing lines of the pentagram, a hand reached up from the ground. Then another hand appeared. They spread the lines apart and a woman's head appeared. She eventually pulled herself up from out of the ground. Bonnie and Liv looked over to see another pair of hands popping up elsewhere. They too spread the pentagram lines apart, with a male figure climbing out of the ground. Both the man and the woman were fully clothed, but drenched like newborn babies covered in their mother's placenta.

Bonnie smiled as she approached the pair.

"Who…who are they?" Liv asked.

"Heh, he, heh! Old friends," Bonnie replied gleefully.

Liv's hands fidgeted as she witnessed the trio huddle together. Abruptly, the glow of the lines immediately ceased, closing the gateway into the Abyss.

Bonnie turned around and hissed at Liv. "RE-OPEN THE GATEWAY!"

Liv stood dumbfounded. "I…I don't know what happened."

She bent down and touched the pentagram. She repeatedly touched it but nothing happened.

"You agreed to be our ally," Bonnie said angrily. "We need reinforcements. Open the gateway!"

"Hey! Watch it with the attitude! I am not your servant. I am not your slave! I don't even know how I opened the gate in the first place."

Bonnie smirked. "Really? Or perhaps you closed it because you're afraid we'll overwhelm you?"

"Power in numbers? It's crossed my mind. Considering the fact that you want to overrun this world with possessed vampires, witches and werewolves, I think I have a right to be uneasy! Besides, you have a vampire and a werewolf here now to help you," Liv replied, nodding at the woman and man respectively.

Though a witch would normally need to physically touch a person to determine their preternatural status, Liv somehow knew what the man and the woman were. Both seemed quite young, athletic in build, Caucasian and brunette. Even though physically they didn't look alike, they seemed to share a similar—presence—with each other and with Bonnie.

While the man remained calm and composed, the woman stared at Liv, breathing heavily while licking her lips.

"No! Not her," Bonnie commanded, staring at the woman and then at Liv. "She is our…ally. Besides, there is a whole town on which you can feed!"

"There is one," the woman replied, "that we wish to see first! He can be our firsssssst!"

Bonnie chuckled. "A wonderful idea! But I am curious…how did you know to possess these two?"

"We've been watching from the Abyss," replied the man. "We know of your plan. And these two…souls…were quite willing to give up control so as to avoid more torment."

Bonnie nodded and smiled. She suddenly turned her gaze away, as though she either heard or sensed something. She then looked to the two new recruits and grinned.

"Damon has a gift for us. We need to see him now."

"What? How do you know what Damon is doing?" asked Liv, confused.

"We know!" replied Bonnie brusquely. She then turned her attention to the woman. "You! Go and find your victim. When you've had your fill, meet us at the Salvatore mansion."

"And what about us? We wish to see Tyler Lockwood," said the man.

"Yes! We too wish to see him," replied the woman.

Liv looked at both of them with suspicion.

"In time," Bonnie replied. "First, we have to go and see Damon. Then we'll see about Tyler."

The woman nodded and vanished instantly.

"Now, be a dear and see if you can work to keep this gateway open. After all, you are our ally, are you not?" asked Bonnie.

Liv nodded and knelt down at the pentagram. As soon as Bonnie and the man had left, Liv got up and dialed Tyler's phone number. However, all she seemed to get was static.

She put her phone away and looked at the pentagram. Seeing those two people come up from out of the ground scared her a bit. She realized that indeed, power in numbers would put her at a disadvantage. She reached down and touched the pentagram, mumbling something under her breath.

Once she had locked the door, so to speak, she intended to head for the Lockwood mansion.

 _Dark Relations_

Grunting and sweating, Matt had been at it for what seemed like hours.

But he finally unloaded the last box of plates and put them away under the bar. He wiped his brow and sat down at a bar stool, taking a swig of water, looking over the continuing renovations to The Grill.

Despite Jeremy's protest, Matt had had enough of going over weapons and tactics at the Lockwood mansion. After catching a few winks, he decided he needed to get out of the mansion for a while. Even though he was somewhat proud of Jeremy for finally taking his Hunter training seriously, he lamented over the idea that Bonnie might be a recipient of Jeremy's new found interest in tactical preparation. It seemed to Matt that as far as Jeremy was concerned, if Bonnie was in cahoots with Damon, then Bonnie was just as guilty as Damon was for whatever crimes either of them may have done. It was a conclusion that Matt didn't agree with at all and would not share. Matt had known and loved Bonnie for practically his entire life and he was going to give her the benefit of the doubt up until the very end.

Matt needed a break and decided to burn off some frustration and steam by continuing to help out at The Grill. He let his fellow co-workers take the rest of the night off so he could be alone. He needed to be alone. In many ways, though he found it a tad bit pathetic, The Grill was becoming his refuge; a symbol of the normalcy of life that just seemed to escape Mystic Falls on a constant basis.

Though it wasn't always that way.

He remembered his and Elena's first date being at The Grill. He was so nervous, trying to impress her that he even went so far as to tip the bartender to let him have a beer before the date to calm his nerves. Seeing as how it was really the first time that he ever drank alcohol, he wasn't prepared for the effects. Suffice to say, he never did know if Elena fell for him because he came off as cool and confident, or because he was just inebriated enough that she found his antics comical. He had always meant to ask her that question.

Of course, everything changed after the Salvatore boys came to town. Things changed and seemingly not for the better. As Matt began to think, he couldn't help but shake his head in remorse. He wondered how many lives would never have been lost had everything not happened the way they did. He wasn't blaming Stefan and Damon. Then again, maybe he was. Their world and the supernatural world were going to collide at some point. Even if the Salvatore brothers never showed up, Klaus would have. So would have Katherine. Elena would have been gone and Klaus' hybrids would be running the world. Jeremy would have become a Hunter at some point. But then Matt began to wonder who would have survived, be it his sister Vicki, or Tyler's mother and father, Bonnie's father, or Elena's aunt Jenna, or the close calls they had with Alaric, Bonnie and Jeremy, all dying and yet coming back to life.

Matt shook his head again.

He was thinking in circles. He smacked himself on the side of his head, trying to prevent himself from getting caught in a labyrinth of 'what-ifs.' But his mind began to wander and wonder.

 _People dying and coming back to life._

He thought about the absurdity of such a concept. He still couldn't believe it happened. It was an idea he had heard about in church and seen played out in zombie movies and horror flicks. But up until recent years, it was all just flights of fancy and religious dreaming. And yet, he had witnessed it time and time again. He himself even experienced it! It had happened so many times that Matt became numb to the reality of it. It seemed like it was a common occurrence in his life now. Along with all the other normal things about life he once thought were defined and unchangeable, death too had been redefined along the way.

There was no 'normal' death anymore, at least not for those with a supernatural element to them. Be it Elena or Caroline or Bonnie or Jeremy or Tyler or Alaric—a normal death didn't apply to them. It seemed like if death touched them, they had a second chance to come back; and a third chance; and a fourth chance. Who knew how many chances? It seemed to be very easy to take death for granted.

Matt sighed. Because for all that had changed, he didn't. At least, not like everyone else had. There was no Other Side for him. There was no way to come back from death like the others could. He was the last of them all, the only one who had somehow remained the same, at least on the outside.

He started to laugh. As he looked around, he realized another absurdity. It had been less than 24 hours that he and Jeremy were attacked by a vampire who, by rights, shouldn't have even been walking around Mystic Falls. An innocent person was decapitated, with his truck being used as a tool in that decapitation. His town was under siege…and here he was, unpacking boxes of dinnerware to get The Grill ready for its reopening.

Matt took another swig of water and grabbed a utility knife to cut the tape on the box so as to compact it to chuck into the recycling bin. Suddenly the lights began to flicker, eventually turning off. Light streaming in from the outside lamp posts illuminated the room a little bit, but not enough for Matt to distinguish shadow from hard object. He remained still and silent for a moment, clutching the utility knife in his hand, trying not to breathe so that he could hear for any kind of movement in the room.

Though he had thought enough ahead to bring his bag of vampire weapons with him in case of an attack, he had left it behind the bar. If it was that vampire that had trashed his truck the night before, he knew he couldn't beat her to the bag, no matter how fast he ran. Tactically, he figured it best to let her make the first move and see if he could somehow counter whatever she did.

With his pulse beating like a machine gun and sweat stinging his eyes, Matt continued to stand still, turning his head slightly to try and look around for any movement. His body jolted slightly when the lights suddenly came back on. He continued to stand still, though moving his head around, looking to see if anything in the room had moved. After a few seconds of nothing happening, Matt slowly moved off the bar stool and made his way to behind the bar. He retracted the utility knife and clipped it to his belt, reached down behind the bar and grabbed the weapons bag. He continued to look up over the bar to see if anyone was there, but he saw nothing.

 _Power outage maybe?_

He wasn't taking any chances. He unzipped the bag and rummaged through it to pull out a stake.

"Mattie!"

A woman's voice whispered to him. It didn't come from any one location but sounded like it was coming from all around the room. Matt got up and scanned the room. He desperately wanted to shout out to see if anyone was there, but he knew it was an exercise in stupidity. Whoever it was that was messing with him was neither a friend nor a co-worker.

He grabbed the bag and walked out from behind the bar and into the dining area of the restaurant. He made his way to the door when he heard the clinking of glasses from behind the bar. He turned around to see what made the noise but he saw nothing. He began to breathe heavily and suddenly noticed that he could see his own breath. The sweat on his face and neck began to chill him as though he had walked in from a gruelling workout into a frozen meat locker. A pungent stench wafted into his nostrils, but it was smell that he couldn't identify.

The lights flickered again and then turned off. Matt again scanned the room and saw a pair of glowing gold and red eyes and a black silhouette sitting at a booth at the far end of the restaurant.

"Join me for a drink, Mattie?" said the figure in a deadly, velvety female tone.

The lights flickered and came back on. Matt looked up at the lights and then looked at the booth, but the woman was gone.

He reached into the bag to pull out another weapon when he instinctively sensed someone standing right beside him. His peripheral view could see a pair of brown boots and tight dark blue jeans standing behind him, slightly to his left. He figured Valene had returned to finish the job. Matt knew that she was waiting for him to make a move. The element of surprise was his only chance.

He pulled out a stake before throwing the weapons bag in his hand at the woman while simultaneously rolling away. As soon as his feet were planted firmly on the ground, he turned to face the vampire with the stake in his hand, ready to strike. But the woman caught his hand and squeezed it until Matt could no longer hold onto the stake and dropped it. She grabbed Matt by his shirt and flipped him over hard onto the floor.

Shaking his head and blinking rapidly, Matt tried to get his bearings, only to see the woman mount on top of him and then lunge at his neck, her eyes blazing with gold and red, a mask of black veins around her eyes, her fangs menacingly protruding from her mouth.

He flinched and brought up his left arm to block her attack. It did, but it only gave her something new to bite on. She clamped down on his forearm, shaking her head from side to side like a dog tugging at a piece of rope. It served to make the bite marks all that much wider, allowing for more blood to flow out.

Matt cried and clenched his teeth as the vampire's bite grew increasingly tighter. He could feel her fangs digging deeper into his arm, penetrating through flesh and muscles, feeling like they were making their way right to the bone. He knew that eventually she would bite all the way through and rip out a chunk of his arm. He tried to think about what he could do but her eyes of blazing hatred and savagery stunned him momentarily. It was the same look that the vampire had when she threw that jogger at his truck. It was only when she shook at his arm again that the pain snapped him out of his stasis and he began scrambling for something to get her off of him.

As he wriggled on the floor, he felt something jabbing him on his hip. He reached down and felt the utility knife clipped on his belt. He grabbed it and extended the knife and then, with everything he had, rammed it into the left eye of his attacker. She immediately opened her mouth and twisted her head, inadvertently breaking the blade off of the utility knife, leaving the metal blade itself imbedded in her eye. She fell backwards screaming, clutching at her eye as blood spurted out onto her face and onto the floor.

Matt slid back, looking at his arm, staring at the massive bloody gash that seemed to take up most of the space on his arm. He remained stunned at the image as blood poured out of the wound, his arm quivering with his hand going limp. He started to feel light headed, but he didn't know if it was out of blood loss or shock, or perhaps both. Either way, he knew he had to finish the job because he was not going to survive otherwise.

He ripped off his t-shirt and wrapped it around his arm to try and stop the bleeding. He stumbled forward and picked up the stake. With adrenaline numbing the pain in his arm and transforming fear and panic into rage, he watched the woman thrashing around on the floor, her long, light brunette hair veiling her face as she continued to clutch at her eye. She curled up on the floor and had her back to Matt. He saw his opportunity. He grasped the stake tightly and raised his arm and prepared to plunge the weapon into the woman's back.

"This is for my truck!" Matt growled.

"Why Mattie?" the woman sobbed. "Why? Why do you hate me so much?"

Matt froze as he recognized the voice. The woman stood up and turned to face him.

"V-Vicki?" Matt muttered, dropping the stake.

She stood up and turned to face Matt. She casually reached into her damaged eye and pulled out the metal blade. Blood spurted and then oozed out of her eye until she it shut. She brushed her blood soaked hair aside and walked to over to Matt.

"Why are you always looking to hurt me, Mattie?" Vicki asked sorrowfully. "Wasn't it enough that you left me alone on the Other Side? Wasn't it enough that you chose that bitch Elena over me? And now you won't let me feed? Why won't you let me feeeeeed?!"

"Vicki! I…I…," Matt stammered as he shuffled backwards. "What happened to you? How are you even here? When you were on the Other Side, you…you—"

"I was claimed by the Sovereignty! THEY cared about me. THEY wanted me. Unlike you, little brother!"

Matt kept shuffling back as Vicki continued walking towards him, malice and vengeance arising from her like some cheap cologne.

"No, Vicki. No! I…I love you. You're my…you're my sister. I didn't want to leave you on the Other Side. But you left me no choice."

"NO CHOICE?!" Vicki screeched. "There was always a choice, Mattie! There was me and Elena! There was helping me or condemning me! And you ALWAYS choose to condemn me. ALWAYS!

"No, Vicki! I love you. I always have and I always will," Matt said, the pain in his arm distracting him for a moment. "I've…I've taken care of you…at your worst and always had your back. But I had to do what was right. And doing the right thing sometimes…sometimes means making sacrifices!"

"Yessss…it does! So help us now, little brother. Like you always have," Vicki said. Matt found her instant switch from vicious anger to soft pleading highly unnerving. She wiped Matt's blood from around her mouth and licked her lips. "We need to feed. And then, we'll be alright."

Matt continued moving backwards until he hit the bar. Vicki continued moving towards him until she was face to face with him.

"Look at you, Mattie! How big you've grown. How much of a man you've become," she said, lightly touching and stroking his muscular bare chest with her finger. Being that close allowed Matt to finally scrutinize his sister. Her skin was pale. She definitely looked dead. Her good eye was the normal brownish and green colour that he was used to seeing and not the gold and red with the black slit in the center that he had seen when she attacked him.

"You let me feed," Vicki continued, looking at him with lustful, bedroom eyes, "and we'll let you do to us whatever you want!"

"What?!" Matt recoiled in disgust. "Vicki! What…what's happened to you? What the hell is going on?"

"Oh, c'mon Mattie. You seem to have a thing for vampires now, don't you? Elena…Rebekah…why not me? What…am I not good enough for you?" Vicki asked, her tone becoming increasingly agitated. "Am I beneath you?! Is that why you left me to ROT on the Other Side, you little BASTARD?! IS IT?!"

She grabbed Matt tightly by the jaw. Tears began dripping from Matt's eye from the pain she was generating, as though she was slowly crushing his jaw with her hand. His face became beet red as he struggled with his good hand against Vicki's steel grip.

She closed her good eye for a moment. Matt could see the black veiny mask return around her eyes. Suddenly, both of her eyes flew open, the demonic look from before had returned. She gritted her teeth as she tightened her grip around Matt's jaw.

"It's a shame that you'll die a regular human being, Matt," Vicki said, a deep growl seemingly underlining her words. "We could have used someone like you in the Sovereignty."

She twisted Matt's head to the side to give her access to his neck. Matt clenched his eyes shut.

"Let him go, Vicki!"

Vicki's fangs barely pricked the surface of Matt's skin when she turned around and saw Jeremy standing at the restaurant entrance, a crossbow pointed right at her.

"Jeremy! Aren't you a sight for our eyes?" Vicki replied, grinning wildly.

She pushed Matt away and started walking towards Jeremy. He steadied his crossbow, making sure that he had a clear shot to her heart.

"Stay back, Vicki! I don't want to do this," Jeremy warned.

"Oh, Jeremy! Do you hate me too? This is just as much your fault as it is his," she said, motioning with her head towards Matt. "We came to you for help and you refused us. You instead listened to that Asian whore! You stood by while Stefan killed me!"

"That's not true, Vicki, and you know it! Now stand down."

Vicki seductively walked towards Jeremy while running her hands over her body. "C'mon, Jer! Don't be like that. Put that crossbow away and we can have fun like we used to have. Do you remember? Help us out and we can relive those good times."

She stopped and turned to look at Matt. "Oh, and if you want join in, you can, Mattie. It's not like I haven't done a threesome before!"

As soon as she turned back to Jeremy, an object was flying through the air towards her. She caught it and looked down in time to see a vervain grenade explode in her hands.

Vicki screamed as she her face and chest began burning. Jeremy shot off a couple of arrows, getting her in the shoulder and stomach. Vicki flailed around before finally taking one last look at Jeremy and Matt and hissing at them before she flung herself through a window and disappeared.

Jeremy checked the window to see where she went before rushing to Matt.

"Matt, are you alright? Where did she get you?"

Matt straightened himself up and removed the shirt that was wrapped around his arm.

"Oh man!" Jeremy replied as he turned slightly away from Matt's gnarled and bloody arm. Jeremy ran behind the bar and found a bottle of vodka and a roll of paper towels.

"This is going to sting a bit but it'll help clean the wound," Jeremy explained as he poured the liquor onto Matt's arm. Matt groaned as the vodka began burning. Jeremy immediately began wrapping the paper towel around Matt's arm as tight as he could without ripping the delicate tissue.

"What…what the hell happened to her?" Matt mournfully asked, his eyes welling up with tears.

"I don't know, Matt. I don't even know if that was her.

Matt looked away at the window that Vicki had escaped through.

"It was her, Jer. I know it was her. And yet…it wasn't," Matt said, wiping the tears running down his face. "Something happened to her. She's like that vampire that was hanging out with Damon and Bonnie. We have to help her!"

"Never mind that now, Matt. We have to get out of here. Who knows if there are more of them around? I was able to…borrow…a car from one of Tyler's neighbours who happens to be on vacation. It will do for now until Tyler can get us some better wheels. That's why I came here…to pick you up so we could go do some investigating."

Jeremy helped Matt to stand up, but Matt stumbled a bit, the room spinning all around him.

"Here, take a swig of the vodka," Jeremy said, holding the bottle to Matt's lips. He then propped Matt on his arm and slowly walked out of The Grill.

"We better get back to the mansion to take care of your arm and get some more weapons. I have a feeling we're going to need them!"

 _New Tactics_

As Elena remained kneeling and crying on the concrete road, she could hear the rumblings of a car approaching her along the road to Mystic Falls. Squinting and putting her hand up to block the blinding of the headlights, Elena's grief was quickly transforming into annoyance. She stopped sobbing and started curling her lips. With her vampire eyes forming and her fangs extending out, she looked like a wild raccoon on the road awaiting its destined collision with the vehicle. She hissed as the car came closer, waiting for the driver to honk the horn and step out, only to become the recipient of her anger and grief.

The car slowed and finally stopped a small distance away. The door opened and it was then that Elena heard a familiar voice.

"Elena!" bellowed Alaric as he stepped out.

Soon, the passenger door flew open and Caroline ran out to meet her.

"Elena! Oh, my God, what happened?" Caroline asked as she bent down to hug her.

"Damon…he…uh…*sniff*…he took…he took Stefan," Elena mumbled.

"What?!" Alaric reacted. "How did Damon get Stefan?!"

Wiping the last remnant of tears from her face, Elena slowly got up with Caroline's help. She saw Istas and Abby step out of the vehicle as well and sheepishly looked away from Abby's scornful glare.

"I…I tried to find Damon. I needed to know what happened to him so I took one of the Ambrosia rings and came here to look for him. Damon somehow knew I was coming and met me here. But Stefan followed and managed to take my ring off and throw me to the outside of the town. The next thing I knew, both he and Damon were gone."

Alaric sighed and walked up to the border. "He must've taken him back to the mansion. He needs his blood to bring down the Traveler spell. Thankfully he doesn't have yours."

Elena closed her eyes for a moment and deeply breathed in. She opened her eyes again and blinked slowly as the pit of her stomach started to ache. "Alaric. He…he does. He took some of my blood before Stefan could get me out of there."

"You IDIOT!" Istas screeched. With lightning speed, she pushed Caroline away from Elena, grabbed Elena's head and hurled it into the road, knocking Elena semi-unconscious. Alaric moved to Elena's side while Caroline shoved Istas away and then got in her face.

"HEY!" Caroline exclaimed, almost snarling. "You so much as TOUCH her again and I will end you myself!"

Not backing down even an inch, Istas snarled back. "Bring it, Blondie! I've got enough for the both of ya!"

"Stop it, the both of you! You're not helping matters!" Alaric commanded.

"Tell that to your idiot friend here!" Istas replied, pointing at Elena. "She just handed those damn freaks what they need to bring this spell down and take off and we'll never find them again!"

Istas felt a soft hand on her shoulder and turned to see Abby there. "Izzy, please! Alaric is right. This isn't helping."

Istas scowled at Caroline before storming off, shaking her arms and breathing in deeply to expel the adrenaline that had built up.

"So what do we do now?" Abby asked as she watched Istas move away.

Alaric was about to speak when he heard Elena stirring beside him. She grabbed her head and moaned as she lay dazed on the road. Alaric bent down to help her up but then stopped. He closed his eyes and straightened up again. He stared at her for a moment and then walked away, running his fingers through his hair. Pacing back and forth, switching his hands from his hair to his face, Alaric finally stopped and dropped his hands in exasperation.

"I don't know! I don't know. Istas is right! Damon and Bonnie now have what they need to bring the Traveler spell down and once it's down, they can go wherever they want. And right now, we can't do a damn thing about it! They've heightened Damon and Bonnie's powers to a point that even I'm overmatched. And we have one Ambrosia ring left, for whatever good it does if it just ends up turning any one of us into blood-lusting monsters!"

All of them suddenly picked the sound of grass and leaves rustling in the distance. They looked to see a black form slowly making its way to them, facing towards Mystic Falls, sprinkling something on the ground while murmuring to itself, seemingly following the boundary of the Traveler spell.

The figure got close enough for the group to recognize that it was Luke.

"Luke!" bellowed Caroline.

He immediately stopped his incantations and looked up. He stretched out his hand towards the five of them and they immediately started to feel their temples throb and ache. The pain slowly became worse to the point that all of them shut their eyes and started to grasp their heads, joining Elena on the ground, prostrate and in agony.

"Luke…Luke, wait! We're…*ugh*…we're not going to attack…you," pleaded Alaric, stretching his hand out to Luke, begging for mercy.

"Right! You'll excuse me if I don't take your word for it," Luke answered, sneering.

"Luke, he's telling the truth. They…they don't…*agh*…they don't have…the rings on anymore…they won't…," Abby attempted to explain.

Luke turned his gaze away without easing on the migraine. He nodded to himself and retracted his hand, releasing the five vampires in the process. After all of them sighed in collective relief and got back to their feet, they approached Luke.

"Thank you. Look, we're very sorry for what happened before," Alaric said. "We don't know what happened. We even attacked each other while we were in there. We lost control and I don't blame you for being upset with us."

"Yeah…well…it wasn't exactly the greeting I was expecting when you returned."

"What are you doing here anyways?" asked Elena, rubbing her head.

Luke looked at the group and hesitated to answer. He took off his knapsack and put away the container of salt he was using.

"Are you putting up a boundary spell?" asked Abby.

"Yeah. I talked with Liv. There's something going on in there and she asked me to put up a second boundary spell in case the Traveler spell is brought down. I've been going around the Mystic Falls border doing just that."

Alaric nodded and smiled. "That's good! That's really, really good! Smart thinking. Is that going to keep Damon and Bonnie in there?"

"Damon, Bonnie, and pretty much any other supernatural creature. None can get in or out."

Elena's face scowled. "Wait…what? Then that means we can't get in either!"

Luke stared at her stone-faced. Again, he hesitated to respond but slowly closed his eyes and sighed. He reached into his knapsack and brought out multiple pieces of string.

"Keep these on your person and you'll be able to pass through the boundary spell," Luke said, handing them over to Alaric.

"How do they work?" Alaric asked.

"Just take them and stop asking so many damn questions! Geez, why do you have to know every damn—"

Luke stopped, closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sorry. I'm tired and it's been one hell of day, ya know!"

Alaric nodded, put the strings in his pocket and put his hand out to shake Luke's hand. "No need to apologize, Luke. You've gone above and beyond what any other person would have done considering all that we've put you through. Thank you for these…for everything!"

Elena and Caroline both compassionately smiled and nodded in agreement while Istas stood cross-armed and passive. Abby, meanwhile, looked upon him with a mother's concern.

"Where is Liv? Why does she think the Traveler spell will be brought down?" asked Abby.

Luke looked down, closing his eyes while his hands fidgeted.

"Luke, I—" Abby said before being interrupted.

Luke raised his head and, with an apparent newfound focus and resolution, addressed Abby. "Abby, can I talk to you for a moment…alone?"

"Uh…sure."

The two walked away from the others a fair distance. Luke reached into his knapsack and pulled out a small bundle of sage. He pulled out a lighter and lit the sage, murmuring a spell under his breath.

"I don't want the others to hear about this. I don't necessarily trust them," Luke said, trying to stand with his back to Alaric and the others so as to mask the smoke wafting up from the burning sage.

"But you trust me?" asked Abby.

"I don't know who to trust anymore, to tell you the truth," Luke said in resignation. "My coven is of no help right now. They sent my former teacher to us and now she's disappeared. I have these psycho vampires attacking me. And now Liv—"

Luke started to blink rapidly, attempting to stave off the tears and grief that threatened to overtake him. He breathed in deeply and continued.

"Look, Abby. I have to trust someone. My coven has always respected the Bennett witches, especially your mom. Also, you have a stake in this, and that's your daughter's life. And from what I've heard, considering what she went through with Expression magic, maybe you can understand what I'm feeling right now."

Abby looked at him puzzled. "What are you talking about? Is Liv dabbling in Expression magic?"

"Worse!"

Luke looked back to the others to ensure that none were able to see what he was about to reveal. He opened up his knapsack and pulled out the Red Dragon grimoire.

"Is that…," Abby started, looking at the book with both shock and amazement, "…is that the—"

"It is."

"But…but how? That book is supposed to be locked away in Vatican City."

"I don't know, Abby. I thought it might be a fake but I think it's the real deal. Thing is, I found it in Liv's dorm room. I think my former teacher gave it to her. And from what I can tell, she's pretty much absorbed all of it. She said that she was going into Mystic Falls to eliminate a threat. I don't know what that means but if she's using this stuff to do it, either way it can't be good."

"No, it can't," Abby replied, nervously staring at the grimoire. "Bonnie became overwhelmed with Expression. I can't imagine what this book did to Liv."

"Which is why I need you to take it," Luke said, pushing the book towards Abby.

"Me?!"

"Yes, you!"

"But why me? I can't do anything with it."

"That's exactly why I need you to take it. I've had to stop myself three times already from opening this book and soaking up its contents. If I keep it, I know I'm going to eventually give in. But you? You're a vampire so you can't do magic. You won't be tempted like me. But you're also a former witch who knows all too well how dangerous this book truly is. The others? They—" Luke looked back at the group as they continued to talk amongst themselves. "—they don't understand and probably never will. I can't trust them to keep it."

Abby took the book. She ran her hand over the cover, tracing the dragon emblem with her finger.

"What about Liv? What are you going to do about her?"

Luke sighed. "I don't know. I find myself trusting her less and less. She's changed and I have no idea what she's capable of now. If this book has corrupted her to the point that she seeks to harm others, I…I may have to—"

Luke looked down and closed his eyes. Abby softly put her hand on his shoulder. "I know, Luke. I know."

Luke glanced at her and nodded in appreciation. He pulled out a twig, told Abby to hold onto it while he held onto the grimoire at the same time.

" _Phasmatos radium calaraa_ ," Luke whispered. He opened his eyes and handed the book over to Abby. "The book is cloaked now. To break the cloak, simply snap the twig. As long as you hold onto the twig, only you can see it. I'd better go and finish putting up that boundary spell."

He was about to snuff out the burning sage when he paused and looked again at Abby. "Just so you know, the boundary spell is linked to the lives of Liv and me. Those strings are lined with my hair and hers. Heh! She sheds so much of her curly hair anyways that it wasn't that hard to do. But just so you know…in case anything happens to me."

Abby nodded as she watched Luke walk past the others and continue putting up the boundary spell. She then scrutinized the grimoire and began feeling a clash of emotions. She was thankful that she was a vampire and could no longer do magic, lest she be tempted by the book.

At the same time, as she flipped over the pages, her eyes widened. She clamped them shut at the same time as she snapped the book closed. She opened her eyes again and sighed.


	11. TVD S6 - Part 1 Ch11

_To Fight or Not To Fight_

Stefan shivered as sweat dripped down his face, his breathing becoming ever more laboured as he remained kneeling beside Damon, his arms tied to a beam that Damon haphazardly fashioned from a tree limb to prevent Stefan from taking off his Ambrosia ring and sparing himself the burden of struggling to keep his dark side at bay.

Both were near the town border in another part of Mystic Falls. Damon looked up at the night sky, chuckling under his breath and rubbing his hands while looking at the Traveler spell.

"Soon, brother. Soon we'll be out of here. Free to unleash war. Free to unleash death. Free to reshape this world in our image. Not that we've been waiting for that long, mind you. But I suppose to humans, two thousand years is a long time. But we see time as one unceasing moment."

Stefan struggled to stay upright as the weight of the beam across his back threatened to smash him face first into the ground. He eyes kept rolling back into his head while his torso swayed, eerily looking like he was being crucified.

"Vampires don't feel the effects of time either," Damon said, kneeling in front of Stefan, stroking his face while he re-positioned Stefan's gaze to fall on him. "You're soooo much like us. I can't tell you how proud that makes us. Especially you, brother. Especially you!"

With two hands, Damon grabbed both sides of Stefan's face, pulling the skin back like a child does when playing with their parents face, trying to get the face to look warped to achieve a comical effect. With his thumbs, Damon pushed open Stefan's droopy eyes, forcing them to look at him.

"Are you fighting, Stefan? Of course you are. It's what you've always done, isn't it? And perhaps you'd expect me to tell you not to fight, but to give in. Is that what you'd expect me to say, since I've always been the bad brother? Since I've always been the incorrigible brother? I know what you'd say to me. Perhaps some encouraging, inspirational nonsense to get me to never give up! But I'll play big brother for a bit and tell you to keep fighting. Keep fighting, Stefan! Keep fighting the effects of that ring!"

Damon touched his forehead to Stefan's and closed his eyes. Stefan's nostrils were inundated with the strange smell coming off of Damon. Being that close, Stefan could make out the skin on Damon's face. It looked like stone—lifeless and cold, as though Damon was desiccating before his very eyes.

"D-D-Damon!" Stefan barely whispered.

Damon's eyes shuttered open. He pulled his head back, narrowing his eyes with a snarl appearing on his lips.

"Keep fighting, Stefan. FIGHT!" Damon angrily sputtered, spraying spittle over Stefan's face. "Fight because eventually you'll grow tired and exhaust all your strength and you'll give in, like you've always done…Ripper! Like a pendulum that never stops swinging, yours is a pattern that is soooo easy to predict. For as much as you've tried to hold back our servant, the Ripper, from rearing his homicidal head, your efforts have only made your repeated falls from grace all that more glorious. Trust us, we know all too well what it's like to fall from such lofty heights!"

Stefan's eyes started to wander away from Damon. Damon violently shook Stefan's head to refocus his attention.

"But you can't fight forever, even though you've tried! Did you learn nothing from me little brother? Hmm? It's better to give in, like I did. Give in and live without conflict. Peace! Peace and prosperity. That's what you get when you give in—when you accept the hand you've been dealt and accept yourself for who you are. And you are the Ripper. Look at me, brother. I have it all. I have Elena, immortality, power. We have it all! And what do you have? What did aaaaaaaall your resisting get you?"

Stefan's eyes blinked rapidly as they became muddled with tears. He wanted to answer with something noble, like he had his dignity or his honour or something like that. Something that would just shove it in Damon's face and silence him once and for all. But his voice wasn't working. His mind went blank.

He pondered Damon's question. It hadn't been the first time he thought of that problem. In fact, he probably thought about that more times than he cared to admit. And each and every time, he didn't have an answer. Not then and not now. He didn't know why he kept fighting…only that he felt he had to.

Stefan's eyes once again began to wander away from Damon. Damon pushed back on Stefan's face, stretching it back so hard that Stefan could feel parts of his skin ripping apart.

"Get…get it over with, Damon! Go ahead…and tell me to turn it off! To turn off…my…humanity and let…the Ripper out," Stefan seethed as he scowled at Damon. "Because…*ugh*…because I will fight. I will keep—"

"YESSSSSS! FIGHT!" hissed Damon. "Because it's not about turning off your humanity anymore, little bro! Been there, done that! No, it's about ending this pathetic cycle once and for all. Turning off your humanity is only a temporary fix. Eventually, you'll turn it back on, because of someone or something insipid like love. You'll feel guilty, you'll be forgiven, and then you'll go on your merry way. And one day you'll turn it off, because of some other doleful excuse. Over and over and over and over and over and over—"

Damon's head kept circling around so much that Stefan honestly thought he was going to twist it right off.

"—and over and over and over again…ENOUGH!" Damon exclaimed, his piercing blue eyes wide and resolute. He touched the Ambrosia Ring on Stefan's finger, caressed it before sliding his hand back onto Stefan's face. "It's ironic that you put on that ring to save Elena, because it will be the death of you. Not 'you,' but the Stefan Salvatore that always keeps fighting—that is always overwhelmed by guilt and remorse—that lets his humanity get in the way of being the Ripper. With this ring, you won't just turn off your humanity. Your humanity will ultimately die!"

Damon let go of Stefan's face and chuckled as he stood up, watching Stefan's head fall forward onto his chest. "Once and for all, the cycle will end. There will be no switch to turn your humanity on, because there will be no humanity left. Oddly enough, Stefan, we have no desire to overtake you. We'd much rather play alongside the Ripper. It would be our honour to play with our precious child. So keep fighting that ring. And when you've lost all your strength…we'll show you the way, the truth and the life!"

Damon turned his attention to the approach of Bonnie and the man who had crawled out of the pentagram.

"Well, if that isn't just a coinkidink!" Damon said, smiling upon seeing him.

"Isn't it though?" Bonnie replied. "We also have another recruit in Vicki Donovan. She's out catching up with her little brother."

Damon laughed as he patted Stefan on his head. "Siblings! Always a delight!"

He turned his attention to the man, walking up to him, looking him in the eyes. "I thought you were looking for redemption."

The man smiled and smirked at the same time. "This was…easier!"

Damon laughed as he patted the werewolf on the shoulder.

Bonnie glared down at Stefan, a slight grin appearing on her face as she observed him continuing to struggle. "You brought Stefan here. What about the other doppelganger?"

"Well, let's just say that Hero Boy here had to go and sacrifice himself while getting the damsel out of harm's way. But—" Damon reached into his pocket and pulled out the bloody handkerchief, "—I do have a sample of Elena's blood."

"That's it?!" Bonnie said, incredulous. She snatched the handkerchief out of Damon's hand and scrutinized it. "The Travelers had a bucket full of doppelganger blood. What the hell am I to do with this? We have two spells to do, not just one!"

Damon snatched back the handkerchief and glowered at Bonnie. "Well, maybe a witch with more talent could do more with so little."

"Are you seriously trying to make me jealous of that blonde bimbo? I think your host is starting to cloud your perspective."

"No more than your host's limitations are clouding yours! You have enough to do the two spells. So stop complaining and let's do this!"

Bonnie sneered as she recaptured the handkerchief. She walked over to Stefan and muttered something under her breath. Suddenly, Stefan's palm sliced open and began dripping blood. Bonnie soaked the handkerchief in Stefan's blood until it was completely red and then ripped the handkerchief in two.

"Let's begin, shall we?"

 _Brutality_

Matt shivered as he cradled his bloody arm. Light headed and cold, Matt stared out into the night as the scenery flashed by him in a blur. He honestly didn't know if he was awake or asleep.

"Stay with me, Matt!" ordered Jeremy as he put more pressure on the gas pedal. The compact car had some kick to it which Jeremy rather liked.

"I think I need to see a doctor, Jer," Matt said, slurring his words. "My arm's really hurting. Maybe it's infected."

"I'll get you across the border and we'll see Elena or Caroline. Their blood will heal you. Just hang on!"

Jeremy slowed down to turn a corner. The streets were lifeless save for a few stragglers, who appeared to be running in one direction down the street that Jeremy had just turned onto. A small crowd had gathered up ahead, seemingly blocking off half the street.

As Jeremy drove closer, some of the people slowly appeared in his headlights, signalling him to move over. But in between them, Jeremy could see something lying in the middle of the road—several things lying, in fact.

Some people were standing around, pointing and shaking their heads, seemingly discussing the objects on the ground. A couple of people were kneeling by the objects, while others turned away. Both Jeremy and Matt could hear the faint sounds of sirens seemingly growing louder, coming to their location.

As Jeremy slowed down, he could make out the objects as four bodies. Three were lying along the side walk with one spread out between the sidewalk and the road. The onlookers were blocking his view, so Jeremy couldn't exactly make out who the bodies might belong to. But what he did see made him gasp and stop the car momentarily.

Two of the bodies had large gashes in the side of their necks. One appeared to have a large chunk of her shoulder ripped out, while the last one—the one lying on the road—had his head detached from his body.

"My God!" Jeremy exclaimed in a whisper.

Matt snapped out of his pain induced funk and craned his neck to look out of Jeremy's window. "D-did Vicki do that?"

Jeremy sped up past the scene as the ambulance and police cars rapidly rolled up behind him.

"I don't know, Matt."

Jeremy gripped the steering wheel as he pressed on the gas. He gritted his teeth as he seemingly was driving with more purpose than before.

"H-How is this happening, Jer? Vicki. What happened to her? Was she—"

Matt leaned his head back and breathed in deeply. The pain of his arm broke his concentration. His entire arm felt hot and yet numb at the same time. He shook his head to clear the waves of pain that kept lapping against his mind.

"She got sucked into a void, the last time I saw her. Over on the Other Side. And now, she's like this?"

Matt stared up at the car ceiling, a tear running down the side of his face. He couldn't be sure if it was from the pain of his arm or the pain of seeing Vicki as she was.

"Her eyes," Matt mumbled. "They weren't even vampire eyes. They were like something else. Something…alien."

"I don't even know if that was really her. At this point, I don't know what to believe anymore," replied Jeremy.

"First Bonnie…and now Vicki. It's got to be something to do with the Other Side going away. That's the only connection. They had to have gone somewhere else. Somewhere really bad if they came back like this."

"We don't know for sure that it's them!"

"Who could it be then? Damon, Bonnie and Vicki…they all acted like they knew us. They knew details about us."

"That doesn't mean anything!" snapped Jeremy. "Besides, Damon is still acting as his usual, dickish self. So it's not like we can say that it's truly Bizarro world right now."  
Thinking about Vicki and the way she looked and how she was attacking Matt, it reminded Jeremy of when she first became a vampire and how uncontrollable she was, going so far as to attack Elena. It was Damon who turned her. For no reason at all, other than because he felt like it. Jeremy gripped and twisted at the wheel.

"Whether it is or it isn't them, they're not being subtle about their feeding anymore. They're not bothering to hide their tracks. They don't care!"

He reached into his pocket and pressed the speed dial and put the phone on speaker.

"Hello?" answered Tyler on the other end.

"Ty, forget the car. We're going to need a bus. Maybe a couple of buses. Can you arrange to get us something like that?"

"Buses?! What…you think I'm tight with the manager at the local Greyhound or something? How am I going to get a bus?!"

Jeremy shook his head and pursed his lips. "Never mind. You've given me an idea though. But do something else for me. Get on the Internet and see what you can find about the Other Side and anything about after worlds for supernatural creatures. Anything at all, no matter how bizarre."

"Uh…okay? Wouldn't Alaric be a better person to research this?"

"We're going to need Alaric and Elena and all of them to help us evacuate the town. So get a hold of them and tell them to meet us at the border," Jeremy said. He looked over at Matt and glanced at his arm. "We're also going to need their vampire blood ASAP!"

"What? Okay, what the hell is going on, Jer? Evacuating the town and needing vampire blood?"

"I can't explain now. Just…just do it, Tyler! Once I get a bus we'll swing by to pick you up."

Tyler's sigh could be heard loud and clear. He agreed and then hung up the phone.

"We're evacuating the town?" Matt asked, sounding as though he wasn't sure if he had dreamt Jeremy saying that or if he actually heard him say it.

"We don't have a choice anymore," Jeremy said, staunch and stoic, like a general realizing he has to make a strategic retreat in the heat of war. "They're going to massacre this entire town if we don't get these people out here!"

 _Break the Walls Down_

Damon knelt on one knee before Bonnie. Closing his eyes and bowing his head in reverence with a slight smirk on his face, he waited as Bonnie held one half of the bloody handkerchief on her palm, holding it up as though it she were sacrificing it to her gods. With her own eyes closed, she murmured a spell under her breath. Despite turbulent winds suddenly picking up, the handkerchief never blew off her palm. When she finished, she opened her eyes and folded the handkerchief repeatedly until it was a small red square.

Damon smiled as he opened his mouth and allowed Bonnie to place the square on his tongue. He closed his mouth and summoned copious amounts of saliva to drench the handkerchief, attempting to wash out all the doppelganger blood soaked into it. Bit by bit, he swallowed the combined elixir.

Bonnie slapped him hard across the face. "Don't suck all of it out! I need some for the second spell."

Damon spat out the handkerchief as a soft pink, drenched square onto the ground. "There! Left some," he snarled.

Bonnie held up the other half of the blood soaked handkerchief. Closing her eyes, she began muttering under her breath the spell to undo the magic of the Traveler spell.

" _Zapet parvit ezol ehmit onklet etun… zapet parvit ezol ehmit onklet etun… zapet parvit ezol ehmit onklet etun… zapet parvit ezol ehmit onklet etun… zapet parvit ezol ehmit onklet etun_ —"

The handkerchief slowly began to rise into the air. Once again, the wind picked up considerably and yet the handkerchief's trajectory was not affected. It continued to rise straight up directly above Bonnie.

" _Zapet parvit ezol ehmit onklet etun…ZAPET Parvit ezol ehmit onklet etun…ZAPET PARVIT ezol ehmit onklet etun…ZAPET PARVIT EZOL EHMIT onklet etun…ZAPET PARVIT EZOL ONKLET ETUN…ZAPET PARVIT EZOL ONKLET ETUN… ZAPET PARVIT EZOL ONKLET ETUN…. ZAPET PARVIT EZOL ONKLET ETUN… ZAPET PARVIT EZOL ONKLET ETUN_ —"

Bonnies raised both hands as she continued to shout out the Traveler incantation. The handkerchief stopped floating upwards and stayed in place. The blood in the handkerchief suddenly began to dislodge from the fabric, particle by particle, and began to spread out into the air. The particles themselves broke apart into even smaller particles to the point that the blood turned into a light mist, like a cloud hovering in the air.

Bonnie looked at the half of the handkerchief that Damon had just spit out and levitated it into the air. The remaining blood left on there too began to dislodge and become a mist, joining the cloud of blood suspended in the air.

" _ZAPET PARVIT EZOL ONKLET ETUN_!"

The blood cloud glowed like neon dust before dispersing completely into the atmosphere. Bonnie lowered her arms and her eyes ceased to glow. Both she and Damon looked around and into the night sky.

"Impressive! Doppelganger blood is incredibly potent, especially when they are combined," Bonnie said.

"I don't see the wall anymore," Damon said.

"Nor do I," Bonnie replied.

"Then it's done. We're free!"

Damon grinned before looking at the town border. He vamp-sped towards the border…and was immediately knocked semi-unconscious when he ran into Luke's boundary spell, knocking him backwards and tumbling onto the ground.

"NO!" Bonnie exclaimed as she walked up to the border and stared at the salt line that indicated the boundary spell limits.

Damon blinked and shook his head, clearing the cobwebs as he slowly got up. "What the hell is that?"

"A sad attempt at a failsafe, that's what!"

Bonnie lifted her left hand towards the salt. " _Merabas Hic Libatal, Confremun Signas. Omus Quisa Tentum Exalis, Merabas Hic Libatal. Confremun Signas. Omus Quisa Tentum Exalis_."

The salt didn't move and the boundary spell did not come down.

Bonnie screamed into the air as her demonic eyes blazed with a fury hotter than a nuclear explosion.

"Who could they have gotten to do this?" Damon asked as he stood beside Bonnie.

"There is only one witch who could be powerful enough to erect a spell strong enough to resist me."

"Goldilocks! Well, let's play the Three Bears and rip her apart, shall we?" Damon said as he began marching away from Bonnie.

"Wait! We can't kill her."

"Why not? Killing her will bring the spell down!"

"Not exactly. She's blonde but she's not stupid. I seriously doubt killing her would bring the boundary spell down. That would be too easy. Besides, if she used the power of the Red Dragon grimoire to do this, then we're going to need that grimoire to bring it down. Or—"

Bonnie glanced at Stefan and remained pensive.

"—or we stack the deck even further in our favour," she continued. "Doppelganger blood could be the ace we need."

Damon marched back to Bonnie and glowered at her. "YOU have the power, do you not? Why do we need that book or doppelganger blood to overcome a book devised by our former Master?"

"You stupid moron! None of us know what he put in that book except him and his chosen few, of which we are not among! We need something else in our favour."

Damon turned away in disgust and paced back and forth. He looked at Stefan, who was continuing to struggle, and then looked at their new werewolf cohort. Damon looked at him and then smiled, with the man smiling in return.

"Well then! Perhaps that 'something' is to swell our ranks. We just need to convince young Miss Parker to cooperate. And what better way than taking a page out of John Milton's book and hurt the ones she loves the most."

Damon walked up to the man and put his hand on his shoulder. "Love! Such a splendid thing!"

"Looks like I arrived just in time then, eh?"

The voice of an Englishman startled them. As the originator of the voice approached them, Damon cocked his head to the side in astonishment.

"Enzo?"

"The one and only!"

Dressed in a black overcoat, grey dress shirt, black slacks and shoes and his black hair slicked back, Enzo appeared as normal as he ever did when Damon last saw him on the Other Side. His skin and texture were flawless and alive. Damon walked up to him and grabbed his face.

"You accepted the Kingdom!" Damon said with astonishment as he peered into Enzo's eyes. "The Kingdom is in you—perfectly in you!"

Enzo smiled and patted Damon on the cheek. "It's amazing how unimaginable suffering will cause a person to plead to a higher power for relief. Thanks to you, mate! And I did. And only one side answered!"

"And yet you never said anything."

"Why would I? You lot wouldn't have believed me anyways. Besides, there wasn't a point to it, until now."

"So if you're with the Kingdom, why are you here?" Bonnie asked suspiciously. "We mean to bring the Kingdom down."

"That's the reason, luv! The Sovereignty's crusade has been the talk of the Kingdom. And while many side with the Master, some can see the vision that you have. A vision that, if realized, will bring a Renaissance that the Master has never promised and would never boldly pursue. It's a vision of Paradise that is very…appealing."

Bonnie and Damon smiled at each other.

"So our sympathizers within the Kingdom are increasing?" Bonnie asked.

"Enough that the Master is getting nervous," Enzo responded. "But then again, you are outnumbered two to one!"

Bonnie looked skyward as she noted the other obstacle in their way. "Odds are meant to be beaten! We will not be denied."

"But we will be delayed," Valene said as she and Vicki approached the group. Both of their mouths were smeared with human blood.

"Vicki Donovan! Well, if this isn't just a parade of my greatest hits!" Damon said, jubilantly.

Vicki seductively walked up to Damon and passionately kissed him. Damon ran his tongue around her lips, lapping up the half-dried blood left on there.

"Not the greeting we were expecting," Damon said as he broke off the kiss.

"Things change," Vicki said, smirking.

"Sometimes not for the better," Valene interjected. "Why don't you tell them of your failure with Vicki's little brother?"

Vicki let out an exasperated sigh. "That wasn't our fault. We were interrupted."

"She failed to kill Matt Donovan," Valene reported.

"My precious virgin conquest, Jeremy Gilbert, interfered. He's gotten quite tenacious since the last time we saw him."

Damon pushed Vicki away. "As I said…siblings!"

"So where are they now?" Bonnie asked, impatiently.

"We don't know. We…needed to feed. Matt and Jeremy got away."

Bonnie turned and looked towards Mystic Falls. "Jeremy IS becoming tenacious. He will attempt to warn others. That little snip never knew what was good for him! And now with the Traveler spell gone, his Hunter powers will return. Knowing him and Matt Donovan, they're probably going to try and evacuate the town, and employ his idiot sister and Alaric and all of them to do it. We need to act fast."

She turned back and looked at Vicki and Valene. "You…take Stefan back to the mansion. We have plans for him. Enzo? You will take our new recruit and test out his werewolf powers on Tyler Lockwood. I'm sure young Lockwood will be more inclined to join our side if family is involved. Perhaps that will help turn Liv's sympathies and then she can be kind enough to bring down the boundary spell."

"Recruit Tyler Lockwood? What for?" asked Enzo. "He's human now, isn't he? He bloody can't do squat for us."

"True, he's human…for now," Damon mused. "Before you go, perhaps you'd do well to visit a friend of his in the hospital. Amazing how word gets around in this quiet little town. Everyone is always in everyone else's business! I assume you have a phone?"

Enzo pulled one out of his pocket and handed it to Damon. Damon searched and finally found the information he was looking for. "It seems Tyler's anger management issues led to a rather nasty confrontation. That's who you'll be looking for. It would be a real tragedy if his adversary was to ultimately succumb to his injuries, no?"

Enzo grinned as he took back the phone from Damon.

Damon walked over to Stefan and knelt down in front of him. "And as for you, little brother, we have the length of eternity to wait for you to lose the war to that ring. And when the Ripper emerges, he is going to get hungry, as will the rest of us. And since Little Gilbert is going to need some…official…help in getting people out of town, perhaps it's time to say 'hello' to an old friend and perhaps see if we can get even more to hop onto Team Damon!"

He kissed Stefan on the forehead before Vicki and Valene took him away while Enzo and the werewolf headed for the hospital.

Standing beside each other, watching their crew walk off, Damon telepathically talked with Bonnie so as not to let Enzo hear them. "Are we really going to take Enzo into our confidence? Rather interesting timing that he should show up right now. He is of the Kingdom after all."

"Trust but verify," Bonnie responded. She stretched out her arm and a screech owl flew in from the darkness of the night and landed on it. She stared into the owl's eyes, with both her and the owl's eyes glowing in unison. The owl flew off in the direction of Lockwood mansion.

"That's taken care of. I'll go and see about the gateway and see if the Traveler spell being brought down has affected it at all," Bonnie said, walking away.

"And I'll go see about taming a wild cougar," Damon said, snickering as he headed towards the Sheriff's office.

 _The Haunting_

Tyler yawned as he stretched out his arms above his head, his eyes burning from staring at the laptop screen for the two hours. Clinking link after link after link that led to websites that purported to explain other realms in the afterlife other than the Other Side itself, all of them ultimately led to ridiculous theories, none seemingly rooted in fact. Some were of religious cults and sects—alien conspiracies—some spoke of prison worlds where the same day repeated itself over and over again—one spoke of a world created by a psychic who thought himself the devil—all them made of ridiculous and nonsensical material. The entire exercise was proving to be far more boring and tedious than anything he did while at Whitmore College.

He glanced at the time in the lower right hand corner of his laptop screen and sighed. The empty mug of what was his third cup of coffee somehow did not signal how long Tyler had been at the research assignment handed to him by Jeremy. Tyler gulped the last bit of coffee left at the bottom of his mug and swivelled in his chair. Once his chair came to a full stop, he leaned back and let out another sigh. He sat staring at the ceiling for a moment, wondering why he was even putting in such an effort into Jeremy's request.

Jeremy didn't explain what had happened, or why he suddenly needed to know about what was beyond the Other Side. The news of Damon and Bonnie wandering around Mystic Falls while the Traveler spell was up was certainly unnerving, as was their encounter with another vampire. But something new obviously happened, enough that it prompted Jeremy and Matt to suddenly ask him to secure them a bus and decide they'd evacuate Mystic Falls altogether.

Tyler resented the fact that he had to be confined to the house, forcing him to miss all the action that Matt and Jeremy were obviously experiencing. While telling Alaric on the phone about Jeremy's plans and all that had happened, it only drove the point home how much out of the action Tyler had really been missing.

 _It's not anything new though, is it?_

Once again, he felt left out—isolated from the group and from what everyone else was doing. Alaric, Caroline and Elena were outside of Mystic Falls, while Matt and Jeremy were inside doing their thing. Even Bonnie and Damon, despite whatever was wrong with them, were doing it together. And here he was, alone in a mansion, doing research all by himself.

Tyler stared at the floor for a moment, caught up in the echoing silence and all that it represented. He glanced at his coffee mug and thought about refilling it. He paused and contemplated getting something stronger, something with more kick to it. He gave a soft laugh as his mind zeroed in on Liv's gin and tonic that she had served him at Whitmore. A happy smile appeared on his face as Liv's face flashed in his mind, with a warmth coursing through his entire body. He thought back to the last time he saw her, in the bar talking with that woman while holding a weird looking book. He felt giddy, excited, and alive. He looked at the clock on his laptop again and wondered if it was perhaps too late in the evening to give her a ring.

 _She's probably busy though._

Or maybe she wasn't. Frustration started fizzing up inside of Tyler like a fermented drink, threatening to just explode if some of the pressure wasn't released. He didn't want to be alone in this. He looked at the computer screen again and saw one final link on the search page that he wanted to try. Realizing that he didn't know how long he might be talking to Liv, if she indeed was free to talk, he thought it better to check out that one last link before calling her up.

 _Maybe she can help me out with this Other Side research. She is a witch after all. That's as good a reason as any for why I'm calling her at this late hour._

Tyler smiled again at coming up with a reasonable excuse to give her a call, as well as at the thought of talking to her again. He turned back to his laptop and clicked on the last link on the page.

The page was completely black and empty save for a small message at the center of the screen, in red:

THE OTHER SIDE CLOAKS THE TRUE POWER OF THE UNIVERSE

Tyler ran his pointer over the text and realized that it was another link. He clicked it and the message was replaced by another:

HAPPINESS LIES BEYOND THE OTHER SIDE

He again ran his pointer over the text and clicked on it, with the message again being replaced by a new one:

THE OTHER SIDE IS THE PATH TO EXCRUCIATING BLISS

Tyler sighed as he hit the back button on his browser, realizing that he was simply going to be met with a different message each time he clicked on the text. However, when he hit the back button, the message didn't go back to the previous one, but instead was replaced by a brand new one:

DEATH IS POWERLESS BEYOND THE OTHER SIDE

Tyler hit the back button again, and again a new message appeared:

THE ABYSS IS THE NEW HEAVEN

Tyler kept clicking the back button but was not returned to the search page but was greeted with a new message each time. He then opened up the history tab on his browser, only to see each line that should have shown each website he had recently visited be replaced with lines similar to the ones that he had just read:

TARTARUS HAS PUNCTURED THE OTHER SIDE

THE ABYSS IS THE NEW BLISS

SALVATION LIES IN TARTARUS

He closed the history tab and opened a new window while closing the current one, trying to start his search anew. But the new window was black and empty like before with a message in red in the middle of the screen:

FROM THE ABYSS WITH LUST, RICHARD AND CAROL LOCKWOOD

He remained stupefied for a moment as he read the message on the screen. His body went cold and his hand remained numb on the mouse as he continued to stare at the message. He shook his head and blinked rapidly, recovering from the shock of what he had read. He closed the window and the browser and opened up his anti-virus program.

"Stupid anti-virus—it's supposed to stop these damn pages from infecting my laptop," Tyler muttered to himself.

The anti-virus program opened and Tyler clicked the button to 'scan drive' to scan his laptop. The program started scanning and Tyler got up to go to the kitchen and get another cup of coffee.

However, the computer immediately beeped to signal that the anti-virus program had finished its scan.

"What the hell?" Tyler said, turning around to look at his laptop. "It couldn't have scanned the entire drive that fast."

He sat down again and clicked on the link within the program to see the results of the scan. A new message appeared:

FROM THE ABYSS WITH LUST, RICHARD AND CAROL LOCKWOOD

Tyler jumped up out of his chair, his mouth left agape as his heart began to beat a little faster than before. He kept staring at the message, unsure if what he was seeing was actually real or not. Tyler stood back, almost afraid to even approach his laptop as though he would provoke it or something, as though it were somehow alive. He forcefully grabbed the mouse and closed the anti-virus program and decided to re-boot his laptop. He pressed the power button…but to no effect. The laptop did not shut off. Suddenly, a new window appeared by itself. It was all black and empty save for a message in red in the middle:

FROM THE ABYSS WITH LUST, RICHARD AND CAROL LOCKWOOD

Tyler frantically pressed the power button but the laptop would not shut off.

"Damn it!" Tyler muttered. Two streams of thoughts were running concurrently through Tyler's mind. On the one stream, he figured it was a really bad virus that he had downloaded from that site and he simply needed to flush it out with an anti-virus USB stick. Either that or a hacker had somehow hacked into his laptop and had taken control. However this stream of thought was one he was forcibly trying to focus on so as to rationally explain what was going on and to calm his mind to avoid accepting the other stream.

The other stream was one that he wouldn't let take full form. For all of his encounters with the supernatural and the most vile and cruelest personalities in the history of the world like those found in the Mikaelson family, Tyler figured there was nothing that could scare him anymore. No ghost or poltergeist, no vampire or werewolf, no witch or warlock could rattle his nerves since he had faced them all. Hell, he was once a mixture of two of the most frightening supernatural creatures ever.

And yet, his nerves were being rattled—shaken like a snow globe with his confidence and courage dispersing everywhere but where he needed them most. He wanted to believe it was a mere virus or a hacker, since that would be something 'normal'—something that he could face in a normal way in his normal, human form. But Jeremy and Matt's story of their truck being destroyed by a vampire who, by rights, should not exist in Mystic Falls and the same anomalous existence of Damon and Bonnie served to throw Tyler's sense of normality into disarray.

He slammed the laptop closed and grabbed his mug again. He marched into the kitchen and poured himself another cup of coffee.

 _I'll have to find that anti-virus USB stick. Or maybe Liv can bring over her own laptop. It's another reason to give her a call._

Once again trying to immerse himself in the stream of thoughts that returned his world to normal, Tyler returned to his laptop. Suddenly, the laptop flew open by itself and multiple windows started opening up on the screen, all of them with black backgrounds and red letters displaying the same message:

FROM THE ABYSS WITH LUST, RICHARD AND CAROL LOCKWOOD

Tyler dropped the coffee mug, which shattered as a curtain of hot mocha liquid spread itself onto the floor. The second stream of thought started to take over in his head, causing his heart to beat faster and his skin to tingle along his arms and neck and his hands to go numb.

Abruptly, the multiple windows disappeared and the entire screen went black. Music started playing from the laptop, a tune that Tyler wasn't sure if he had heard before. It sounded very old, perhaps from the 1950's, with scratching and popping sounds typical of a sound recording from that era. The music sounded both upbeat yet sluggish, like a Disney tune that had been slowed down.

 **Children have you ever met the Boogeyman before?**

 **No, of course you haven't for you're much too good I'm sure.**

 **Don't you be afraid of him if he should visit you.**

 **He's a great big coward so I'll tell you what to do.**

 **Hush, hush, hush…here comes the Boogeyman!**

Tyler rushed over and to close his laptop, but the laptop slid away on its own to the other side of the table out of Tyler's reach. The song continued playing to the end, with a buoyant and jovial DJ that sounded from the same era coming on at the end of the song:

"And that was 'Hush, Hush, Hush, Here comes the Boogeyman' by Henry Hill, by special request for a special listener—Tyler Lockwood! Tyler, your mom and dad send their love from Hell! And here's another song by request for Tyler Lockwood, from his friends in his hybrid pack who he left to brutally die at the hands of Klaus Mikaelson!"

A low hum started coming out of the laptop speakers. It wasn't a tune as much as it was just a low hum, like a radio signal coming from outer space. The hum was interrupted infrequently by cymbals clashing. There was no rhythm to it.

A voice suddenly interrupted the chaotic duel between the cymbals and the hum. It was a low voice, almost whispering. At first, Tyler couldn't hear it, but the voice got louder and louder.

"You—are—nothing—to—me!"

It was Klaus' voice. It was the very last thing Klaus had said to him when he last saw him in New Orleans. The moment flashed in Tyler's mind, after a one-on-one fight with Klaus, he had lost and Klaus had spared Tyler his life only because he felt Tyler would suffer more alive than he would dead.

Indignant rage began replacing the fear that had paralyzed Tyler up until that moment. The feeling in his hands returned and he began to clench his fists, grating his teeth as he continued to hear Klaus' voice repeat itself over the strange noise.

However, the buildup of rage was interrupted by a new stimulus. The laptop screen began flashing before it finally displayed an image which appeared to be a video. It was black and white, grainy with no audio to it. Tyler could make out a naked man on all fours, seemingly howling like a wolf beside a woman sitting in a chair. The woman was dressed in what looked like a big and fluffy wedding dress.

As Tyler got closer to see the laptop, he made out that it was actually his dad and mom that were in the video. His mom remained seated in the chair with his dad on all fours beside her like the family dog. A shadow appeared behind Carol. It was undefined at first but then it took the shape of a man dressed in black. He crept up closer to Carol, with something that appeared long and sharp in his hand. When the man's appearance finally became clear, Tyler recognized him as Klaus. Klaus' eyes were transformed into his hybrid eyes, his werewolf teeth visibly present as Klaus grinned while he gently caressed Carol's face. Carol looked lovingly up at him before turning her head away, seemingly offering her neck to Klaus. But instead of biting her, Klaus took the object in his hand—that Tyler recognized as the indestructible white oak stake— and plunged into Carol's chest.

Tyler stood horrified and stammered as he watched Klaus repeatedly stab his mother in her chest. However, it was more Carol's reaction that lined the scene with a thread of repugnancy. His mom started thrashing around, but Tyler couldn't honestly tell if she was in pain or in ecstasy as she seemed to be orgasming with each stab of the stake into her chest. There was no audio to confirm either way since that disturbing harmony of the hum and cymbals and Klaus' voice kept playing over and over again.

With the last stab, Carol finally stopped moving, her lifeless eyes left wide open with a disquieting smile left on her face. Klaus pulled the bloody stake out of her chest and threw it to Tyler's dad. Richard Lockwood excitedly licked and chewed at the stake like a dog finally receiving a spare bone from his master's table. The video zoomed in on Klaus who stood laughing and pointing, seemingly at Tyler himself.

With a fury unlike anything he had ever experienced before, beyond anything his werewolf gene could ever conjure up, Tyler grabbed the largest piece of the broken mug off the floor and beamed it at the laptop, knocking it off the table. It fell to the floor, dotted with the remnants of the coffee still in the mug, the screen cracked but the eerie sound kept playing on. Tyler rushed over to the other side of the table and stomped on the laptop, finally picking it up and ripping the screen apart from the keyboard, bringing an end to the sound.

Heaving in deeply, wiping tears of anger and grief from his eyes, his adrenaline and heartbeat quickly coming down from the tornado of rage and fear that he had just experienced, Tyler was startled to hear the creepy hum and cymbals sound coming from his living room. He rushed over to see the video playing on the big, flat screen TV. The video was playing from the beginning, with the 'music' playing louder than before.

Tyler didn't wait to see the video repeat itself. He rushed over to the fireplace and grabbed an iron poker, returned to the living room and hurled the poker like a javelin, punching a huge hole in the middle of the TV, bringing both the video and the sound to an end.

Someone began knocking on the front doors of the mansion. Tyler flinched at the sudden, unexpected rapping. The knocking was polite and casual at first, but soon turned into a violent banging, with someone seemingly bent on entering the house as they were aggressively struggling with the front door knob.

Tyler went and pulled the iron poker from out of the TV and slowly approached the front door. He tried to see who or what it was that was trying to get into the house by looking out through the windows, but the background of the night made it difficult to make anything out. The doorbell suddenly started ringing incessantly. The barrage of different chaotic noises bombarding Tyler's ears started turning whatever fear and anxiety he was feeling into anger and irritation. Somehow, he knew there was someone messing with him for the sake of messing with him. They were trying to scare him and he made the decision then and there that he wasn't going to play along anymore.

As he got closer to the doors, he raised the iron poker, ready to strike whatever it was that lay beyond the door. The double doors flew open, a huge gust of wind invading the house that almost sent Tyler stumbling back. He turned his face away, holding up his arm up to protect his eyes from the blustery onslaught. When he lowered his arm, he saw nothing at the front door.

"C'MON!" Tyler shouted at his invisible enemy. "ENOUGH WITH THE CHEAP HORROR TRICKS! COME OUT AND FACE ME!"

The wind died down and Tyler's challenge was met with silence. He paced back and forth around the open front doors, turning and gripping the poker in his hand, seething and anxious, listening for any sound that would point to the whereabouts of his guest because he knew that it wasn't over. Someone or something had come to visit and they weren't putting on a sound and light show for nothing.

When he figured there was nothing more happening at the entrance to the mansion, Tyler went back into the dining room to investigate. Once he turned the corner, a huge, black grizzly claw grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground. Bug-eyed and stunned, Tyler flailed the poker around but his arm was immediately brought under control by the monstrous black shape, shaking lose the poker from Tyler's grip. As Tyler focused his eyes on the black shape, he could see two vicious glowing golden eyes with a red center and black slit in the middle. The shape was growling and snarling at him while holding him up, finally carrying Tyler over to the entrance where the double doors remained opened.

The shape flung him through the open doors and onto the front lawn. Tyler's body easily cleared ten yards. Crashing and tumbling across the lawn, Tyler finally stopped, coughing and trying not to think about the pain flashing throughout his body. He looked up at his attacker standing at the entrance of his mansion and lay dumbfounded as the entirety of the monster came into view. The beast looked similar to Hugh Jackman's werewolf monster in the _Van Helsing_ movie, standing at what Tyler figured was easily eight feet tall, covered from head to toe with black fur, with two massive hands with equally impressive claws at the end of each finger. The mouth jutted out like that of a normal wolf, with two white, long, gleaming incisors dripping saliva, like a rabid dog salivating at its first meal in days.

"Impressive, isn't it?" said a voice from above Tyler's head. Tyler was so taken with the monstrous werewolf that he didn't notice Enzo standing over him. Tyler frantically sat up, shocked to see Enzo of all people standing in Mystic Falls, considering he was a vampire that shouldn't be able to exist within the town.

"Listen man," Enzo said, crouching down and looking pensively at Tyler. "We need to talk."


	12. TVD S6 - Part 1 Ch12

_Eyes of Humanity_

Stefan stared at the dancing waves of orange and red in the fireplace as he struggled with the weight of the beam on his back. Vicki had placed him in front of the fireplace and lit a fire, even though late summer weather certainly didn't call for it. However, there seemed to be a method to the madness.

"The heat will help to break down your will," she said before she went off to satiate her blood lust.

Stefan could hear her victim's life gurgling away as Vicki lapped up the blood flowing from the neck. He didn't need to actually see what Vicki was doing—he could hear it—he could smell it—he could almost taste it. Stefan realized just how far his resolve had become weakened because he felt like he could feed on a human being without hesitation. He licked his lips, which were already becoming chapped. His tongue was dry and parched. The smell of the blood was already forming as a taste on his tongue. Copious amounts of saliva soon began to drench it but it only seemed to act like a lubricant, to prepare his taste buds for a sensation that they were not going to enjoy.

 _This is Elena's fault! Damn it! If she hadn't gone to run to see her precious boyfriend, none of this would be happening! None of it! None of it!_

He struggled against the beam, trying desperately to get up but his legs had gone numb. Seething and grinding his teeth, he stared into the flames of the fireplace, finding a strange comfort as though the flames themselves were dancing in sympathy to his anger.

 _Why the hell did I have to save her? Why?! Why do I always have to save her? She couldn't care less about me. She wants Damon. Damon! After all I did for her she wants my dick of a brother. Typical 'nice guy' syndrome. And where did it get me? Like Damon said…where did it get me?_

Heaving deeply as he continued to watch the frolic of the flames echoing his rage, Stefan could feel his eyes begin to change, to feel his fangs form in his mouth.

 _That bitch can piss off, because it's the last time. What did I ever see in her? What? How could I waste so much of my damn time and energy on her? I should have gone for Caroline. She likes me. Oh, the things I'd do to you, Caroline. The things I'd make you do. But then again, she likes prick guys too. She banged Klaus. Of all people…Klaus! Screw her! She can go and piss off too. The only cool chick there ever was Lexi. And Damon had to go and kill her. But Lexi was nice. I should have banged—_

Stefan clenched his eyes shut and shook his head violently. He was going too far and he knew it. Never had such thoughts entered his head, especially about Lexi, who was as close to a sister that he would ever have. Even when he his humanity off, it seemed the Ripper was more concerned about feeding and killing than he was about matters of lust and sex.

He clenched his eyes tighter, desperately trying to think of other thoughts rather than the ones that were invading his consciousness. He would not give into the fate that Damon had for him. He would not let his humanity die and let the Ripper live.

"Shutting off your humanity is like closing your eyes. At least, that's how I look at it," Lexi said in a memory that Stefan was immediately transported to as he thought of keeping his humanity intact. It was a brisk night in the fall of 1925—a couple of years after Stefan had first met Lexi and began to train under her. He had just successfully gone through another whole night without feeding on a human being, satiating his blood lust by feeding on a rabbit. Even though it was an animal, Stefan couldn't help but still feel guilt over killing another living creature.

The two of them sat at the end of a pier, Stefan dressed in a dark suit and loosened black tie and Lexi dressed in a long skirt and sweater that reached to her hips, with her chestnut hair cropped short as was the style back then. While looking out at the black liquid mirror reflecting the night sky and it's lights, Lexi had told him that it was good that he still felt guilt as it meant his humanity was still alive and well.

"I think it's a bit more complicated than that," Stefan replied, sighing while looking out into the vast watery darkness.

"I'm talking metaphorical, ya sap," Lexi said, smiling while gently nudging her shoulder against his. "But when you think about it, it's kind of true."

"Alright, let's hear it, though I think it sounds like bunk," Stefan said as he lay down on the pier, staring up at the stars.

Lexi too lied down and stared alongside him. "When you turn off your humanity, you're basically turning off all your human emotions. But it's not like you become a golem or stone monster or something like that."

Stefan often remembered this conversation and is positive that Lexi would have used the word "robot" or even "android" instead of golem, but of course neither of them had heard of such things until later in the century.

"Turning off your humanity means turning off all ability to feel remorse and guilt and basically anything that makes you 'feel' anything while killing. At least, that's how I felt when it happened," replied Stefan.

"Yeah, but notice how you 'felt' it? I always found it rather bushwa when vampires talk about it, as though you're turning off your human emotions. Not exactly like that, is it? You enjoyed torturing and killing even though you had your emotions off."

Stefan sighed and squirmed a little. It clearly wasn't a subject he was comfortable talking about with Lexi at that point.

"Hey! I'm here to help, remember? You have to be open and admit certain things and be honest about them if I'm going to get you through this."

"Okay, okay! It's just…you talk about it so nonchalantly. I'm not proud of what I've done," replied Stefan.

"I'm not saying you are. But with your humanity off, you didn't feel that guilt. You were cut off from that. That's why it's like closing your eyes. When you close your eyes and keep them closed, you're keeping all light and visual perceptions from entering you. You're in darkness, basically. You're blind. But I've met blind folk who you would never guess were blind when you first meet them, especially if they were born like that. Their other senses compensated and it was almost like they could 'see' without eyes. Likewise, a vampire can still 'feel' things even though his humanity is turned off."

Stefan lay there contemplating the correlation. He had to admit, it was strange that a vampire with no humanity could seemingly enjoy various emotions even though they supposedly weren't able to feel them. But he also had to admit that to 'enjoy' something wasn't the same as it was when he had his humanity on. Indeed, it was like experiencing the sensation of sight with your nose or ear—like you were feeling something but not in its purest, intended form.

"So what about when a vampire turns his humanity back on?" he asked.

"To do that means to get a vampire to feel human emotions. That's like forcing your eyes open again, even a little bit, to let those bits and pieces of light back into your sight. Once the eyes are fully open, the sudden barrage of light entering your eyes, that had become so used to darkness, is overwhelming. So much so that you want to close your eyes again and not experience that pain. So, too, is turning your humanity on and experiencing the emotions that you weren't feeling before. It's overwhelming."

He breathed out slowly as the memory of turning his humanity back on came to mind, the deluge of guilt and remorse over the atrocities he had committed as the Ripper drowned his renewed conscience to the point that he could barely breathe. It was indeed overwhelming that he wanted to turn it off again; to weather that storm of emotions is perhaps among the hardest things a vampire ever has to do.

Lexi looked over to him with her greenish-brown eyes, held onto his hand and gave a reassuring smile. "I know, Stefan. I know. But you did it. You opened your eyes and let the light in. Now, you have to fight to keep your eyes open, no matter how tempting it is to close them again, no matter how much you just want to wallow in blackness. That's easy to do. Keep your eyes open, Stefan. Keep the light in your eyes."

He shuttered open his clenched eyes, frantically looking all around, staring back into the flames in the fireplace, staring as though the act of staring into the bright flames themselves were somehow his salvation. He blinked rapidly, breathing in deeply as his body tingled with fright and anxiety, realizing now the end goal that Damon—or whatever entity was in him—was truly threatening him with. It wasn't like when Klaus compelled him to turn his humanity off. Because whatever is turned off implies that it can be turned on again. He could open his eyes again at some point.

No, what Damon was threatening to do was not just simply getting Stefan to close his eyes—he was seeking to ensure Stefan would have no eyes at all by taking them out permanently. That's what the ring seemed to be doing, slowly dissolving Stefan's humanity to the point that he could never get it back. There would be no on/off switch. His humanity would simply be dead.

Stefan looked over at his left hand that wore the ring. His arm was tied to the beam at the wrist, so he had some room to wiggle and move his hand around. His hand was already soaked with sweat from his internal struggle as well as from the heat from the fireplace. With his thumb, he tried to push the ring off of his middle finger. He could barely see his hand so he was largely going by touch, feeling his thumbnail constantly scrape against the base of his finger, scratching and drawing blood at the joint while trying to dislodge the ring. Partially successful, getting the ring to lift up from the base, he moved his thumb to the left side of the finger, pushing and scraping the ring until it moved up. Trying to manipulate the ring from the right side was proving a bit more difficult, but the sweat was showing to be a useful lubricant. He managed to get the ring up even further, and was a few millimeters away from moving the ring beyond the first knuckle. Once past that, Stefan knew he could shake the ring off.

A wicked roundhouse kick to his midsection viciously interrupted Stefan's ring quest. Keeling over from both the impact of the kick as well as the awkward weight of the beam on his back, Stefan slammed face first onto the floor, teary eyed as he desperately tried to breathe in any air he could as he felt as though his stomach had been pushed back into his spine.

"Tsk-tsk-tsk! Fiddling with that ring?" Vicki mockingly asked as she wagged her finger, contemptuously looking down at Stefan. "We can't have that now, can we?"

Ripping off a long piece of Stefan's shirt, Vicki repositioned the ring and then tied Stefan's fingers and thumb back against the beam so that it was impossible for him to even move his hand. Pulling him back up to a kneeling position by his hair, Vicki steadied Stefan's body so that he was not in danger of teetering over. She knelt down before him and clasped his face with both her hands.

"Ya know, we can't really say that we have any soft feelings for you, Stefan," Vicki said, her eyes soft and half closed as though she were a mother condescendingly speaking to her disobedient child. "After all, you killed me. You stopped me from taking the life of that bitch, Elena Gilbert. Yet, had you not done that, I'd never would have made it to the Other Side and would never have been privileged to be recruited into the Sovereignty. So in some ways, we have you to thank for this—unification."

With her mouth plastered in fresh blood and Stefan still heaving in big gulps of air, Vicki moved her face closer to his so as to let him breathe in the iron scent to the point that it would be all that he could smell.

"We've just received word from Damon. We've got to go. But you? You're staying here. But don't worry. We've got someone to keep you company."

She stood up and disappeared from Stefan's view for a moment. When he heard her return, it wasn't Vicki but a semi-conscious body that landed in front of him. The man's throat had a huge gash on the side of it, clearly where Vicki had been feeding. Stefan could hear the man's laboured breathing. He wasn't dead but was pretty close. Blood was still trickling out of the wound, indicating that Vicki had not drained the man completely dry.

Vicki knelt down again and began whispering into Stefan's ear. "Here's the deal. You want to get out of your bonds? You need sssssstrength to do that. If you feed on our friend here, you'll get the all strength that you need. Of course, you risk awakening the Ripper, don't you? Decisions, decisions!"

She patted Stefan on the shoulder as she and Valene walked out the door. Stefan stared at the near dead man and glared at the open wound, the dark crimson liquid still seeping out of it. Stefan felt woozy as his mouth felt dry and parched while he breathed in the scent of fresh blood coming from the victim. His eyelids felt heavy and came very close to closing completely. Stefan shook his head and clenched his teeth, trying to breathe in solely through his mouth to avoid the scent of blood from overwhelming him.

He turned his gaze away from the body and towards the fire, staring intensely into the flames, desperately fighting to keep his eyes open.

 _Unrequited Lust_

Sheriff Liz sighed as she ran her fingers through her short, dirty blonde hair after having hung up the phone on Jeremy. She couldn't believe his plan to evacuate the town, especially without giving her any time to create a plausible excuse to as to why the entire was being evacuated—again! She knew the tired excuse of a 'gas leak' wasn't going to cut it this time.

She leaned back in her chair, picked up her mug and sipped some coffee while glancing over the photos on her desk. One photo of a young Caroline, with pig tails and a pink dress on when she was in grade school, brought a smile to Liz's face; a smile and a sense of appreciation for simpler times. Things were much less complicated back then. Of course, there was always the threat of vampires, but the Founder's Council seemed to really keep everything in check and nipped any vampire activity in the bud. It never got out of hand and things never got to the point where they had to go and evacuate the whole damn town in order to quell a vampire uprising. Even the arrival of a powerful vampire like Mikael didn't seem to disturb the tranquility of their quiet little town. Of course, there were casualties in the form of Abby Bennett leaving Mystic Falls after putting Mikael down. But in the end, the town's citizens were none the wiser about knowing the existence of vampires.

Then the Salvatore Brothers came back into town and everything seemed to spiral out of control from there. Multiple vampire attacks that she and the Council had to chalk up to animal attacks to protect the townsfolk, but it got to the point that they had to employ various Gilbert gadgets to flush out all the vampires that had invaded the town. From there, it got worse, with werewolves and witches and Original vampires and then Klaus and his hybrids and the Travelers and Markos—and now some mysterious threat that endangered the entire town yet again. She had to give an ironic laugh at how things were simpler when it was just vampires they had to worry about!

Liz got up and went over to the coffee machine at the other side of her office. She poured herself another cup and held it in her hand, sighing once more. She didn't know how she was going to evacuate Mystic Falls this time. The last time, it took a coordinated effort and time. She had to give people a chance to get their belongings together and find suitable lodging outside of Mystic Falls. But now, she had to oversee an expedient evacuation and she was at odds as to telling people why.

Walking back to her desk, she thought about it some more and had to admit—Jeremy was right. Both Jeremy's witness as well as her deputy's more detailed report about the three bodies that had been brutally mutilated and left on the street for all to see was indicative that something was happening. And unlike before where she had the Founder's Council to back her up, she essentially had nobody to help contain the attacks and cover them up. The Council had been all but dissolved after most had died in the fire set by Pastor Young. And even if they had been around, Liz was under no illusions whatsoever that they would have probably proved ineffective in dealing with the new threat that had apparently descended upon their town. The months of supernatural inactivity had basically dulled all of them including herself. She had even stopped taking vervain on a daily basis since it felt unnecessary.

"Hello Liz!"

Liz violently flinched, spilling hot coffee all over her hands and desk. She quickly put the mug down and tried to wipe away the coffee on her hands with some loose papers that were on her desk.

"D-Damon! I…uh…I didn't…hear you!"

Damon was leaning against the door frame, smiling while watching Liz fumble around with the papers on her desk. "Didn't mean to scare you, Sheriff."

"No…no, I…I just—"

"Were you expecting me?"

"I mean…I—"

Liz continued to try and wipe off the coffee with whatever papers she could grab, but the papers were visibly quivering in her hands. She tried her best to disguise her nervousness by rapidly wiping her hands and throwing away the papers as quickly as she could. She looked up at Damon and scrutinized him. She was somehow expecting him to look different, based on what Matt and Jeremy had told her. But he looked as he had always looked, dressed in his signature black leather jacket and black jeans, his skin as smooth and white and flawless as ever, his piercing blue eyes seemingly scrutinizing her in return.

"You're looking good, Liz. You always looked good. Especially for a mom. Especially in that uniform," Damon said, smiling while slowly walking towards her. "But I can't help but feel somewhat confused. You don't seem that surprised to see me."

Liz backed up and went around her desk as Damon approached her, making sure that the desk was always between them. "No…no, of course I…uh…of course I'm surprised to see you. It's just that…well…heh, heh, heh—"

She tried to fake a laugh but realized that she wasn't doing a very good job. As she continued to circle around the desk, Damon continued to slowly pursue her, looking at her in a way that it made her feel somewhat surprised if not uncomfortable. She expected to feel like a prey being hunted by the predator, given that Damon was still a vampire. Instead, she felt like she was being watched as a target for seduction. Even though she felt it had been many years since any man had taken an interest in her—her job as sheriff certainly didn't help to make her more appealing and less intimidating to men in general—she still remembered what it was like in her high school and cadet days, when she would catch the eye of some young stud hoping to sow his wild oats. It was remarkable to her that she could still remember what that felt like.

"I'm—" Liz started, breathing in deeply as she stopped backing away from Damon and stood still, calling on her police training to calm her nerves and steady her resolve. "—I'm not going to lie to you, Damon. I've known about your return. And so—no—I'm not surprised to see you."

Damon smiled his boyish smile. "That's what I always liked about you, Liz. You were always straight with me. In fact, there are a lot of things that I've always liked about you."

Even though Liz had stopped her retreat, Damon had not stopped advancing. Liz summoned up the courage to stand her ground, believing that to show any fear was to tip her hand in an unknown contest with a Damon she feared she didn't really know. What she did know was that Damon was still a vampire and could kill her in an instant if he chose to, but she was hoping he wouldn't. She couldn't just run out of the office and she couldn't fight him without some kind of an advantage. Until she could determine what he wanted, she had to try her best to keep things as casual and as normal as they had always been between her and the man who she once considered her closest ally.

"So, what is this, Damon? A friendly visit? A—" Liz stuttered as Damon continued to advance, invading her personal space, causing her to instinctively retreat back until she hit the wall. "—a…a…catching up of old—"

Damon stopped advancing when his body was practically flush against Liz's. He gently moved strands of her blonde hair that was partially covering her face aside as he moved his face closer to hers. She could smell the leather on his jacket combined with his natural musk, which immediately soothed and animated her at the same time.

"I need your help, Liz," Damon whispered close to her face, sending shivers throughout her body. "We need your help. These attacks, they…they aren't us. You know that, right? You know that I would never do such a thing. I respect you too much to make so much work for you."

Damon ran his fingers as light as a feather along the side of Liz's thigh. It sent shivers along her leg, through her stomach, all the way up to her neck. Liz found herself breathing slightly more rapidly than before as she felt the length of Damon's body up against hers, felt his hot breath deflecting off the skin of her ear and neck, electrifying and charging her entire body.

"Damon!" Liz said breathlessly. "Damon, what—"

"I've learned now," Damon whispered, "not to waste any more time. While on the Other Side, I've learned that time is of the essence. That even for a vampire, time can be a thief. That I have to go for what I want when I can. And I want you!"

"Damon! I…I—"

Before she could react, Damon had deftly turned her around and pressed her face first against the wall. He pinned his body against hers, his groin pressing against her backside. He brushed aside the hair that was covering the right side of her neck and lightly licked her there, running from her ear to her collarbone.

"DAMON! NO!" Liz said frantically. Her eyes were wild eyed as she struggled against him, trying to push herself off the wall. Her heart was beating so rapidly that she honestly thought she'd have a heart attack. Sweating and quivering, she cursed herself for allowing things to get so far to where Damon could bite her.

"Shhhhh! Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you. I could never hurt you, Liz," Damon whispered, gently kissing and then caressing her neck with his tongue. He moved his lips up to her earlobe and enveloped it in his mouth, lightly sucking on it.

Liz gasped and began to inhale and exhale deeply, closing her eyes as she seemed to become dizzy, thankful that the wall was there to hold her up as the erotic electricity coursed throughout her body, making her legs as steady as cooked spaghetti.

She continued to curse herself however; cursing herself for falling into the trap that she had condemned others for falling into so many times in the past. It was so cliché, the allure and eroticism that gothic teenage girls seemed to be enraptured with in regards to the vampire culture and how they glorified it to a ridiculous degree. Liz was no teenager. And even when she was a teenager, she never fell for such adolescent nonsense. She knew what vampires were all about. They weren't sexy, cool and sleek. They were brutal killers. She had fought their existence and what they stood for her entire life.

And yet here she was, becoming enthralled by the sensual actions of a vampire who could easily rupture the carotid artery on her neck and drain her of her blood, ultimately killing her. But the mere thought of it somehow excited her. The thought of a long, slim, sleek shaft puncturing her delicate skin, burrowing itself into her, releasing a flood of liquid that was produced by her and unique to her, being swallowed and enjoyed by a man such as Damon, sustaining him and giving him life. She couldn't believe how erotic and even empowering the thought of it was.

"Do you want me, Liz?" Damon asked, hissing into her ear.

Her response was barely audible, though Damon could clearly hear her. But he wanted her to be clear.

"Don't lie to me. Not now. I know you do. I know you've been holding back. Oh, Liz," Damon whispered, sighing as he continued to kiss her neck and caress her thighs with his hands. "It must have been so hard for you. All these years, dedicating yourself to your work and never finding any kind of release. After your husband left you for another man, I can only imagine what that must've done to you. How that must have made you feel. That must've hurt a lot!"

Liz leaned her head against the wall and sighed deeply. It did hurt, more than she had ever let anyone know.

"It's okay, Liz. I know," Damon continued. "We know how hard it's been. And we know you've needed this release. You, of all people, deserve this release. You deserve to feel this joy, to feel this pleasure, to feel this bliss. Do you want to feel all of this with me? Do you want to feel me?"

She closed her eyes as her head continued to lean against the wall. It had been so long. So very, very long.

Damon grabbed her hair and with gentle force, pulled her head back against his shoulders and put his mouth to her ear.

"Answer me!"

"Yes," she whimpered.

"What?"

"YES!"

Damon licked and kissed her neck as he ran his hand inside and down the front of Liz's trousers. She gasped as she closed her eyes and brought her hand up, tugging at Damon's hair while pressing his face into her neck at the same time.

He pulled his head back as his fangs protruded out. "I've wanted you for so long, Liz. It's our time now. It's time to stop being a cop, time to stop being neglected, time to stop being a mommy to Caroline. It's time to be the woman that you are!"

Liz opened her eyes and immediately pushed herself away from the wall, forcing Damon to back up as well. She turned around and looked at Damon with bedroom eyes, slowly unbuttoning the front of her shirt while she took a single step towards him, her right foot placed ahead of her left.

"But what about Elena? What will she think of this?" Liz asked, coyly smiling.

"Elena?! She—"

It was a tactic she had learned in her police training—ask your assailant a question, no matter how bizarre, to get him to think about something else, if even for a millisecond. Once that happens, attack!

Despite Damon's speed and reflexes, he was distracted by the question for a moment—a moment that allowed Liz to bury the tip of her right boot into his groin. She didn't get the power she wanted, but that wasn't her objective anyways. She had moved her right foot forward to make sure that the main target she was aiming for was closest to her longest weapon. Even for a vampire with the speed of Klaus, it would have been near impossible to pick up on Liz's intent and stop her as she practically gave no pre-attack cues.

As Damon reeled over onto one knee, Liz curled her lip as she took more time with her second kick. She had more time to draw her leg back like a soccer player readying to kick a ball the length of the soccer field. Caroline, in her pink dress and pigtails, flashed in her head as she pushed off on the ball of her right foot, took a small step with her left, and then brought her right leg from the back to the front, burying the tip of her boot into Damon's nose, hoping she would smash it into the back of his brain.

Damon flew backwards as blood arced from his nose and onto the floor. Momentarily dazed, Damon flailed on the floor, seemingly lost and confused as to where he was.

"You BASTARD!" Liz snarled. "I TRUSTED YOU! I—"

This time, she had been the one who became distracted by her mental process—and Damon took advantage. With lightning speed he pushed Liz up against the wall again with one hand grasping her throat.

"And to think that I was going to be gentle with you, Sheriff," Damon mused. "But it's obvious you Forbes women don't like it gentle. You like it rough! Like mother, like daughter. Our kind of girls. And like sweet Caroline, you too will be a part of the Sovereignty."

Damon wiped the blood from his nose, generously covering his hand. He then forced two bloody fingers into Liz's mouth. She gagged and coughed as she tried not to swallow. Damon grabbed her jaw, forcing her to look at him.

His compulsion from before was gone. The smell of leather and musk was gone, replaced by an odour she couldn't identify. Damon's skin was suddenly different, like weathered and beaten stone. But it was his eyes that terrified her, eyes unlike any she had ever seen.

Damon placed his hand on her chest, preparing to rip her blouse off. "You should be thanking me, Liz. We suppose Damon's sweet spot for you is what has saved you in the end. You will not be our food. You will be our ally. As you always have been, and forever will be. But you need to be taught a lesson…mommy! And that's what we're going to do. We're—"

The strange smell emanating from Damon was suddenly interrupted by another smell. Liz couldn't identify it either, although the closest thing she could compare it to was cooked bacon. She noticed Damon's hand that was on her chest began to tremble, with Damon looking at it oddly. He finally backed off from her, howling in pain as he grasped his quivering hand.

Liz stared at the hand and noticed a strange shape burned into it. It was a cross. She instinctively reached around her neck and felt for the necklace that her mother had given her when she was a teenager; a small cross that her mother had hoped would bless her and protect her from the dangers of vampires that had haunted Mystic Falls.

She didn't dwell on the irony for too long as she saw her opportunity to strike. With a deft motion that only years of practice and training could pull off, she pulled out her gun, switched the safety off with her thumb and fired two wooden bullets into Damon's head. Ever since she heard of the increased body counts that seemed to signify a resurgence of vampires, Liz thought it best to carry her revolver that housed wooden bullets—just in case.

As Damon lay unconscious on the floor, Liz circled him with her gun trained on his chest. With her lip curled and her eyes uncompromising, she held the gun out, pointing it straight at Damon's heart. Her eyes became watery as she stared down at Damon's lifeless body. For as livid as she was with him for violating her daughter and coming so close to doing the same with her, she couldn't forget the past few years when he stood by her, when he was an ally and friend to her. And she couldn't believe that all of that was just for show.

Her hand began to quiver as she stroked the trigger with her finger. She breathed in deeply as she willed her hand to steady itself for the shot. Regardless of Damon's past deeds or misdeeds, this Damon that lay before her was an obvious threat. Maybe it wasn't the real Damon. Then again, maybe it was. Either way, if he was the ringleader of these new vampires wreaking havoc in Mystic Falls, then she knew it fell on her to put personal feelings behind her duty to the community. Gritting her teeth, her insides a vicious battle between righteous anger and potential regret, she slowly began to depress the trigger.

Before she could take the shot, she repointed the gun to the entrance of her office once she heard the sound of gunfire in the hallway. She took a quick, cursory glance at Damon to ensure he was still out before peeking out her open door. She saw nothing other than the hallway being unusually dim, with some of the ceiling lights out. She slowly ventured out into the hallway, gun pointed up ready to re-target if a new threat presented itself. As she slowly made her way through the hall towards where she thought she heard the gun shots, a body suddenly flew across the hallway, slamming against the wall. Liz pointed her gun at it before being startled again by seeing a dark figure descend on the body, biting into his neck.

"Hey!" Liz bellowed as she watched the dark figure respond to her. Liz could immediately tell it was a woman from the long flow hair silhouetted against the light still emanating further down the hallway. But what Liz could also tell was that she was a vampire like Damon, as the woman's eyes glowed golden like his.

The woman leapt up and clung to the wall, crawling towards Liz like a warped version of Spiderman. As the woman's face came into view under one of the few ceiling lights that was working, Liz gasped as she saw a familiar face.

"Vicki Donovan?" Liz said, mesmerized by the grotesque look of Vicki's eyes and skin with blood swathed around her mouth.

Vicki lunged at Liz with incredible speed that Liz was only able to get two shots off, but it was enough. Vicki fell to the floor and began thrashing and floundering around like a living fish on dry land, screeching and wailing as she reached for the wounds on her shoulder and neck.

Liz ran towards the man that had been thrown against the wall. She pulled him along until his body was in sufficient light that she could properly check on him. She knelt down beside him and groaned in sorrow as she realized it was one of her deputies and that it was already too late. He was dead. However, she noticed something on his face—blood trickling from his lips though he seemingly did not suffer any damage to his mouth.

 _My God! They're trying to turn them!_

She turned her attention to Vicki, who seemed be trying to dig out the wooden bullet from her shoulder. Liz realized she didn't have much time or bullets left and with a deep breath, pushed the barrel of her gun into the chest of her dead deputy and shot a bullet into his heart. She wouldn't let him suffer a fate worse than death.

Liz ran out of the building and was headed towards her police cruiser when she heard more gunfire coming from her left. She turned to see two more of her deputies, a man and a woman, both firing on seemingly another vampire. With blinding speed, the vampire threw the male deputy against another police cruiser with one hand while she pushed the female deputy onto the ground, preparing to feed on her. Liz took aim and fired two more shots, just missing Valene's heart. Valene, like Vicki, thrashed around on the ground as she suffered the effects of the wooden bullets. Liz ran to her female deputy, helped her off the ground and then helped her male deputy, shuttling both of them into her police cruiser.

"What the hell is going on, Liz?" the female deputy asked hysterically. "What the hell was that?"

"Not now, Andrea. We need to get out of here, fast!" Liz responded, revving up the engine and shifting the car into drive. She sped out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell, constantly looking in her rear view mirror to see if they were being followed. She reached into her pocket and grabbed her phone and handed it to her male deputy, Tom, who was sitting in the front seat.

"Find 'Caroline Forbes' and put her on speaker phone," Liz ordered frantically. "I need to speak to her…now!"

 _The Ride from Hell_

A few miles away from the border of Mystic Falls, gathered in the empty parking lot of the same diner that Stefan had stopped at before, Elena stood with her back against the car and as well as towards the rest of the group as she listened to Alaric and Istas argue about strategy.

"We can't just go in there, guns blazing. We did that already and we got owned. We need to go in with a plan," Alaric argued.

"What for?! There are two vampires and one witch. Now that we can all get into your little town without any problems, I say we go in, 'guns blazing,'" Istas argued back. "We've got the numbers on our side. And besides, those vampires were tough but they weren't invincible. Maybe your ego took a bit of hit, hmmm?"

Alaric cocked his head to the side in disbelief. "My ego? First of all, this isn't about ego. I was made to be stronger and faster than Klaus Mikaelson himself and Damon barely broke a sweat in beating me."

"Neither did I!" Istas retorted, wryly smiling.

Clearing his throat, Alaric continued. "Whatever. Either Bonnie enhanced him or that entity inside of him did. Either way, it'd be stupid to take either him or Bonnie lightly. Secondly, we don't know if we can get into Mystic Falls yet. Luke said that his sister Liv was taking care of that but we have no way to know if she was successful."

"But we do," interjected Abby. "We haven't even tried to enter Mystic Falls since Luke left. Liv might have been successful."

"You're right, Abby. We haven't," Alaric responded. He glared at Istas and continued. "But I'd like to have some kind of plan in place before we just go barging in there if we do discover that the Traveler spell is down. And we need better weapons, like the crosses and holy water that I asked you to bring!"

Istas stood cross armed and shook her head. "And you still haven't explained why. I don't even know why I'm listening to you. Who the hell made you captain of this crew? Screw this—I'll go take care of these jokers myself."

Istas marched past Alaric but didn't get very far when he grabbed her by the arm and twirled her around, bringing her close to him.

"And what exactly are you going to take care of?" Alaric interrogated.

"Take your hand off of me!" Istas threatened, sneering as she bore a hole into Alaric's eyes with her own. She began looking around his eyes, his nose, his mouth and his lips. Breathing in his sweat and scent, she felt a mixture of excitement and anticipation. It was for combat—at least she thought it was.

"We want the same things here," Alaric said, releasing his grip on her arm. "You want to find your sister. We want to save our friends. But we're dealing with something here that none of us have faced before. Damon and Bonnie, oddly enough, may be the key to figuring out this new threat."

"And why should I even care about this so-called new threat?" challenged Istas.

"Because Damon and Bonnie were on the Other Side along with your sister. Therefore, they are the only link to any possible answers that we have as to what happened to everyone there. You take them out and say goodbye to those answers! Do you really want to do that?"

Elena shook her head as she listened to the back and forth between Alaric and Istas. She was soon joined by Caroline who leaned beside her against the car.

"Hey. You alright?" Caroline gently asked.

Elena sighed deeply. "I don't know why I did it, Caroline. How could I take Abby out like that and rush into Mystic Falls? Now Damon has Stefan and who knows what's happening to him right now. If it wasn't for Luke and Liv, we'd probably be more screwed than we already are. And all because I had to see Damon."

"We're not screwed yet," Caroline answered. "Luke put up a boundary spell. We have these little—strands—or whatever they are that Luke gave us to help us all get into Mystic Falls if and when the Traveler spell is brought down. We'll find Stefan and he's going to be okay."

"You don't know that!" Elena argued, her voice cracking, signalling her being on the precipice of breaking down. "You know as well as I do that the last person in the world who should be wearing that Amber ring—or whatever their called—is Stefan! The lust for blood…the anger…the…the—craving—to just give in to all of your illicit desires…. It's the worst thing that Stefan could willingly take on. And once again, he did it save me! Once again, the damsel in distress, Elena, has to go and put everyone else in danger in order to save her stupid life!"

"Stop it, Elena! Just stop it! Don't make this about you."

"Why not? Everyone else is. That Amazon chick seems to blame me for everything. And I don't think Ric or Abby are impressed with me either," Elena pouted, turning around to look at the group.

Caroline sighed. "Look, they have their gripes. I'm not saying that what you did was smart. It wasn't. But we're dealing with something here that is far bigger than you or I or any of us. What I saw in Bonnie was definitely…disturbing! I think Alaric is right. We're dealing with something really different here."

"What was she like?" Elena asked. "You told me what happened but you didn't really tell me how Bonnie was different, other than how she looked."

"It was horrible. It's like if Bonnie could turn her humanity off, I imagine that she would behave similar to the Bonnie I saw. But—"

Caroline paused as she looked away from Elena.

"But what?"

"I heard her, Elena! I heard Bonnie. The real Bonnie. I swear I did. She called out for help. I thought I imagined it, and maybe I did. But what if I didn't? That means the real Bonnie is in there, somewhere."

"Bonnie and perhaps Damon too," Elena remarked. "Then maybe there's hope? If the real Damon is in there, maybe he and Bonnie can be rescued. It also means that Stefan might be safe. Damon would never hurt Stefan."

"I don't know about that," Caroline said snidely.

"Look, I know you don't like him. But give him some credit. He's changed over the years. At least give him that!"

"I'll admit, he's…less selfish. But as far as hurting Stefan, I—"

Caroline was interrupted by the buzzing of her phone in her pocket. She grabbed it and noticed her mom's name on the display.

"Hello? Mom?"

"Caroline! We're…whoa!—"

"Mom?!"

"—we're under attack. Damon and Vicki Donovan are attacking me and some other officers. We're being chased by Vicki right now!"

Elena's brows furrowed. "What? Vicki Donovan?"

"Mom! What are you talking about? Where are you?" Caroline asked, trying to decipher the noises coming from the other end of the phone. She could tell that her mom was on speaker phone and that she was driving.

"We've just drove off from the police station. I shot Damon—"

Elena's eyes widened as she moved her head closer to Caroline's phone"

"—in the head. Then I encountered Vicki and another vampire. We got away but…damn it!—"

"Mom? MOM!"

Alaric, Istas and Abby heard Caroline's agitation and soon huddled around her.

"What's going on?" Alaric inquired.

"We don't know," Elena answered uneasily. "It's Sheriff Liz. She said that she was attacked by Damon and Vicki Donovan. She's on the run, I think, in a car with some other people. We can't really hear what's happening."

They all listened intently to Liz on the other end.

"—Vicki is on the roof of the car! Just…shoot up Tom! SHOOT!—"

The group could hear multiple gun shots, the sound of the car's wheels screeching as it sounded like Liz hit the breaks.

"She's right in front of us!" Tom exclaimed, breathing heavily. "She's getting back up!"

Caroline gripped the phone tighter as she could hear her mother slam on the gas. The revving of the engine was quickly followed by a loud bang, presumably the car ramming into Vicki. The car's engine was all that could be heard until suddenly the sound of glass breaking and a woman's scream rung out from the phone. The car's screeching breaks were heard as Liz's panicked voice soon replaced them.

"My God! ANDREA!" Liz shouted.

Thuds and muffled thumps preceded silence as everyone intensely listened to Caroline's phone.

"MOM?! MOM!"

* * *

"Stay in the car, Tom!" ordered Liz as she unbuckled her belt and got out of the car.

Vicki had smashed the back seat passenger window and dragged Andrea out. Liz quickly circled the car and trained her gun on Vicki who was using Andrea as a shield.

"Let her go, Vicki!"

"Awww! It seems I'm always getting into trouble with you, doesn't it Sheriff? Just like old times!" Vicki snidely responded.

"Let-her-go!"

"We don't want to hurt you. We want to invite you! Stop making this difficult!"

With her free hand, Vicki bit into her own wrist and mushed the open wound across Andrea's mouth. Andrea gagged and sputtered as her mouth became covered in blood.

"We mean to enhance you. We mean to augment you. We mean to make you better! Stop fighting us!" Vicki growled as her demonic eyes began to glow.

"Don't do this, Vicki! Please, let her go!" Liz pleaded as she tried to steady her aim at Vicki's head.

Valene's speed and approach was so quick that Liz had no time to respond. Liz suddenly found her arm twisted to the point that she dropped her gun as Valene grabbed her by the throat, lifting her up off the ground.

" _¡Pinche puta_!" Valene cursed in Spanish. "You almost killed us!"

"Wait!" Vicki interrupted. "She's mine. Take this one!"

Vicki abruptly dropped Andrea while Valene did the same. Both Andrea and Liz dropped to their knees as Vicki and Valene switched places. As Valene approached Andrea, Tom got out of the car with his gun raised at Valene, but she quickly knocked the gun from out of his hand and back handed him in the face, sending him slamming against the car and onto the ground. Vicki, meanwhile, grabbed Liz by the hair and pulled her up until she was suspended in the air, causing Liz to scream in pain.

"MOM?! WHAT'S HAPPENING?! MOM!"

Vicki smiled as she peered into the car through the open driver side door, seeing Liz's phone on the floor near the gas pedal.

"Hello, Caroline!" Vicki bellowed. "Hope you're listening really well!"

Vicki dropped Liz, allowing her to crumple onto the ground. As Liz reached up with her right arm to grab Vicki's shirt to pull herself up, Vicki grabbed the arm and grinned.

"Ya know, my mom never spoke very highly of you. And I never liked you that much either. Always looking to bust me. Consider this as payback for all the grief you've given me, as well for the wooden bullets!"

Liz screamed as her arm was snapped at the elbow, with Vicki making a completely clean break so that the only reason Liz's arm was still attached to her body was because the skin was holding it together.

Liz wailed and cried in agony as Vicki pulled her up by her hair again.

"Don't worry, Sheriff. By the looks of it, Damon already gave you some of his blood. And we hope you've let it settle in your stomach. Because you're going to die now. Soon, you and your fellow cop will be reborn in the Sovereignty. And you'll have a tasty treat in the form of this heroic young gentleman beside the car. Say goodbye to mommy, Caroline! She's going to be a new woman soon…or a dead one!"

Vicki's fangs appeared as she twisted Liz's head to the side. Liz wept as she stared at her phone in the car.

"Caroline!" Liz sobbed. "I love you!"

* * *

"MOM!"

Caroline gripped the phone so tight that a single crack appeared on the screen.

Wiping tears away from her eyes, Caroline bolted towards Mystic Falls at a speed faster than she had ever gone before. She almost made it across the border when she was stopped by Alaric.

"Caroline, wait!"

"LET ME GO, RIC! GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

"Caroline! The Traveler spell. It might be still up!"

"I SAID GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

She struggled and managed to break free momentarily before Alaric once again stopped her by grabbing her from behind in a bear hug.

"Caroline, please! If the spell is still up…you won't make it. You don't…even know… where they are!"

"LET ME GO, RIC! I HAVE TO SAVE HER! LET ME GOOOO!"

Elena, Istas and Abby soon joined them.

"Alaric, we have to do something!" Elena pleaded.

"Like what?" Alaric replied, still struggling with Caroline. "We have no idea where they are!"

"We can't just stand here and do nothing!" Abby retorted.

Alaric heaved a sigh as he let Caroline go. Caroline collapsed on the ground, sobbing as she gathered herself together. She may not have known exactly where her mom was, but she knew where to start. She stared into Mystic Falls, prepared to bolt towards the Sheriff's office when all of them suddenly heard the faint sound of a car horn.

They all looked around but there was no car near them that was making that sound. Caroline suddenly realized that it was coming from her phone.

* * *

Vicki turned her head towards the sound of the horn. She was partially blinded by the headlights of the bus. It was enough of a distraction that she couldn't react to the vervain grenade headed towards her until it was too late.

The grenade blew up a foot away from her head, enough to send her sprawling on the floor howling in pain, her face sizzling from the acidic explosion.

Valene was about to feed on Andrea when she heard the explosion and Vicki's subsequent anguish. She was too distracted to hear the whizzing sound of an arrow signalling its approach to her, finally impaling her in her neck, the impact sending her backwards onto the ground, blood spurting out from the wound.

An old looking 'chicken bus,' the kind that one would find in rural areas of Central America or the Caribbean, that looked like a yellow school bus but decked out with weird paint and a railing that crowned the roof to keep luggage and other items secure on top of the bus, stopped beside Liz as the side doors opened up.

"SHERIFF, GET IN!" Matt hollered.

Liz collected herself quickly and rushed over to Andrea to help her up and then over to Tom, who was still somewhat groggy from Valene's attack. Liz grabbed him with her good arm and did her best to drag him to the bus before Andrea recovered enough to help her.

"Matt, go! GO!" Liz urged as soon as all three were inside the bus.

Matt stepped on the gas and headed towards the border of Mystic Falls.

Tom and Andrea lay down on the benches, exhausted and confused, while Liz slumped down beside Matt, clutching her arm.

"How…how did you know?" Liz asked, panting.

"We didn't," Matt replied. "We were on our way to get your help in evacuating the town when we saw the damage at your office. We arrived just in time to see Vicki and that other vampire leave to hunt you down. We tried to catch up but this bus isn't exactly built for speed."

He looked down to see Liz cradling her right arm.

"What happened to your arm?"

"Vicki Donovan."

"Heh! You too?" Matt replied, giving a soft chuckle as looked down at his own damaged arm. "I'm hopped up on ibuprofen to ease the pain, though it's kind of wearing off right now."

Liz looked around at the bus. "Where…and how…did you two get this wonderful piece of transportation?"

"You're the law. Therefore, you don't want to know."

Liz softly laughed. "You're right, I don't! So where are we going?"

"We have to get out of here. We can't take these guys on our own. We're heading out of Mystic Falls and getting help."

"CAN'T YOU MAKE THIS PIECE OF JUNK GO ANY FASTER, MATT?" Jeremy hollered from the roof.

"HEY! YOU PICKED IT OUT! I'M PUSHING THIS THING TO THE LIMIT," Matt hollered back through the open driver side window.

"Matt, do you have your phone on you?" Liz asked while grimacing.

"Yeah. Here."

Matt took his hand off the wheel momentarily and reached into his pocket and handed his phone to Liz. She scrolled through his contacts and found Elena's number.

"MOM? MOM?! WHAT HAPPENED?!" Caroline kept asking into her phone. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and then looked towards Mystic Falls before Elena's phone suddenly started ringing.

"Hello? Matt?" Elena answered.

"Elena, it's me," Liz replied.

"MOM!" Caroline bellowed as she heard Liz's voice through the earpiece, quickly grabbing the phone from Elena. "Are you alright?! What happened?!"

"I'm okay, Caroline. Matt and Jeremy saved me and my officers. We're on a bus, heading towards the border right now."

"Matt and Jeremy?" Alaric remarked, surprised.

"Looks like your training paid off, Ric!" Matt said. "Jer got his Hunter powers back and kicked some serious butt!"

The five all looked at each other.

"Jeremy got his Hunter powers back? So that means, the Traveler spell is broken," Elena remarked with delight.

"Matt, where are you? We'll come help you," Alaric said.

"We're on Samp—what the?—"

Jeremy lay on top of the bus, with one hand hanging onto the railing, trying to keep his body from flying all over the place and off the bus, with his other hand desperately trying to keep his crossbow steady. A small bag of weapons tied to the railing jangled back and forth, bopping between his body and the railing itself.

"JUST KEEP DRIVING, MATT! I'LL TAKE CARE OF THIS," Jeremy hollered as he looked at Vicki while she stood at the tail end of the bus.

"WHAT'S GOING ON, JER?" Matt asked.

"JUST KEEP DRIVING!"

Jeremy scrutinized Vicki's face. As the bus passed underneath lamp post after lamp post, Vicki's face reminded him of a cartoon sequence drawn on the corners of each page in a book, and the cartoon suddenly came alive when the person would rapidly flip through the pages with their hand. Her face, which was still heavily scarred from the vervain grenade, frame by frame, lamp post by lamp post, started to clear up. What made the sequence all the more haunting were her demonic eyes that served as the only source of light during the periods of darkness.

"Get off the bus, Vicki! I don't want to hurt you," Jeremy warned, trying to steady his crossbow at her.

"You've already hurt us," Vicki said smoothly. "That's twice already! Besides, I made a man out of you, remember? And this is the thanks we get? You little puke! Once again, you want to prick us without any kind of foreplay. Didn't that Bennett bitch teach you anything?"

Jeremy felt a clash of opposing emotions battling inside of him. On the one hand, he really didn't want to hurt her. He did remember how she was his first, how much he loved her and angry he was at how Tyler had treated her and how Damon had turned her. On the other hand, he hated her. He hated what she was and wanted to wipe her off the face of the Earth. He realized it was his Hunter instincts kicking in, and he needed to temper those feelings or they would run out of control.

He let go of the railing to hold his crossbow with both hands, trying to counter the chaotic commotion of the bus with his legs and shoulder muscles. He watched in small amazement as Vicki walked closer to him, somehow balancing herself quite well despite the turbulence.

Jeremy gritted his teeth as he let an arrow fly towards Vicki's shoulder. She twisted her body slightly, dodging the arrow with ease. Jeremy shot another arrow, this time towards her abdomen. In one fluid motion, Vicki caught the arrow and lunged towards Jeremy, impaling his right thigh with the arrow in her hand. Jeremy screeched as he dropped the crossbow, clutching at his leg.

"JER! ARE YOU OKAY?" Matt hollered.

"You will be soon, won't you, Jer?" Vicki said, clutching at Jeremy's throat.

"GET—AWAY—FROM MY—BROTHER, VICKI!"

Elena sped headlong towards the speeding bus. She leapt about ten yards in front of it, timing her jump perfectly so that her right foot landed on the nose of the bus, barely touching it before pushing off again and extending her body length-wise so that her feet hit Vicki square in the chest, drop-kicking her off the bus like a pro-wrestler in a WWE ring.

Vicki rolled and tumbled along the ground as the bus sped away from her. Elena twisted in the air as the bus sped underneath her, barely catching the rail at the tail end of the bus in time, her body slamming against the back door. The impact jarred her grip that she let go, only to have Caroline grab her by the wrist before Elena fell to the ground.

"I got ya, Elena!" Caroline said as she reached from the top of the bus, pulling her up.

Once Elena was on top, she crawled over to Jeremy, who was already being tended to by Alaric.

"Are you okay, Jer?" Elena asked as she looked him over.

"Yeah! Just my leg," Jeremy said, wincing.

Elena looked up and saw Istas and Abby in the distance. She realized they were close to the border and reached into her pocket and gave Jeremy one of the strands that Luke gave them.

"Here, hold onto this."

"Why?"

"Just do it!" Elena ordered.

Jeremy held onto the strand as the bus passed the border without incident, much to everyone's relief. The bus came to a stop beside Abby and Istas.

Caroline jumped down and immediately went to her mom once Matt opened the doors.

"Oh my God, mom! Are you okay? I thought you were gone!" Caroline said, sobbing, holding onto Liz tighter than she had ever had before.

"I'm fine, Caroline," Liz replied, crying also. She winced as Caroline's hug started hurting her arm.

Caroline let go and examined Liz. "Mom! Your arm!"

"It looks worse than it feels. I'll be okay."

"Here."

Caroline bit into her wrist and offered her blood to Liz. Liz grimaced as she stared at the open wound, the image of Damon shoving his own blood onto her mouth made her want to wretch.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

"It's…it's nothing. Just something that happened with Damon. I'll explain later."

The adrenaline rush that helped to numb the pain was quickly dissipating, and suddenly the rush of throbbing and aching in her arm started to become unbearable. Reluctantly, she scooped up some of Caroline's blood with her finger and ingested it. She held her dislocated arm together to help it heal better.

Istas and Abby quickly boarded the bus as Matt shifted it into drive. On the roof, Alaric decided to wait until they were somewhere safe to pull the arrow out of Jeremy's leg. As the bus was moving, Elena and Alaric could hear someone clapping their hands in the distance.

They both turned to see Damon walking up to the boundary wall, clapping and smiling like a spectator at a play, with his demonic eyes shining brightly in the darkness like two stars in the night.

Elena instinctively moved towards him but was held back by Alaric, who looked at her and shook his head. She looked back at Damon and fought the incredible and confusing urge to run to him. She pounded her fist on the bus rooftop in frustration as the bus slowly drove away from Mystic Falls.

Damon stopped at the boundary wall and blew Elena a kiss and waved goodbye as the bus slowly drove out of sight. He was soon joined by Vicki and Valene, whose eyes were demonically glowing as well.

"Well, that was melodramatic!" Bonnie said from out of the darkness. She joined the trio as they watched the bus become a speck on the horizon.

"The gateway is still closed?" Damon asked.

"Our little blonde bimbo has some explaining to do," Bonnie replied.

"No matter," Damon said lightheartedly.

He turned around and spread his arms towards Mystic Falls.

"We have a whole town of new recruits and fresh food. And neither daylight nor the Kingdom nor the High Enemy nor anyone…can stop us!"

The quartet strolled together back towards Mystic Falls, all grinning, all of their eyes gleaming in unison with demonic brilliance.

"Blood alone moves the wheel of history!" Bonnie quoted while beaming.

END OF PART 1


End file.
